Mega age no barrier to racing in 2017 - but should it be?

Megalala, thought by the rarely mistaken racing historian John Randall to be the oldest British Flat winner since the war, is set to race on at 16, we learned this week. Megalala is an estimable creature, as consistent as gravity and still evidently about as keen as he was on his debut back in 2005, but his never-ending career does raise an important question: how old is too old for a racehorse?

At 15 Megalala is a greybeard by the standards of his rivals on the tracks but many older horses have raced – and won – before. Famously there was Sonny Somers, one of a handful of horses to win at the age of majority over jumps. The record books note three 18-year-olds winning on the Flat as well: Revenge in 1790; Marksman in 1826; and Jorrocks (who gloried in the nickname The Iron Gelding) in 1851.

The oldest horse to ever race, apparently, was Creggmore Boy, who was 22 when he made his final appearance. He had not won in five years, however, placing his last win at the tender age of 17.