Veteran trainer Jerry Bozzo breaks own record as he secures winner aged 97

When Gusty Wind drew off to win the fifth race at Gulfstream on Saturday, Jerry Bozzo broke his own record as the oldest trainer to win a Thoroughbred race.

"It's very gratifying. I wish I could have been there in the winner's circle," said the 97-year-old Bozzo, who watched the victory on his home computer. "That would have pumped me up even more."

A graduate of Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bozzo celebrated his 97th birthday on October 25.

The retired aeronautical engineer, industrialist, and World War II veteran sold his Pennsylvania bottle manufacturing company in 1969. He has been breeding and training Thoroughbreds in South Florida since the 1970s.

Bozzo became the oldest trainer to win a race on June 3, 2017, when he sent out Cotton Tooyah at Gulfstream. He had already become the oldest trainer to saddle a stakes winner when homebred Flutterby won the Sea Lily Handicap at Gulfstream in May 2015.

On Saturday, Gusty Wind raced far off the early pace under jockey Luca Panici in the mile dirt test then made a sweeping run on the turn and drew clear to break his maiden in his sixth start.

Bozzo, who still actively trains a small stable at Gulfstream Park West, is also the breeder and owner of the three-year-old son of Indy Wind.

"Good for him. He is a man with an amazing history – a World War II veteran," Panici said. "We had some nice wins with Flutterby a few years ago. I always enjoy riding from him."

Sistercharlie leaves it late in Diana

Sistercharlie caught Ultra Brat in the final strides to register a victory by a nose in the $500,000 Diana Stakes to give trainer Chad Brown a third straight win in the 1m1f turf contest.

Brown said: "This isn't her ideal distance, nor was the mile and a sixteenth in the Jenny Wiley. But with sheer class, heart, and ability, she can do it."

Sistercharlie, the 6-5 favourite, covered the nine furlongs at Saratoga in 1:46.26, and afterwards Brown mentioned the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington as a possibility for her next start.

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