Nine-Year-Old Timer Moses Finally Set for First Career Start at Turf Paradise

A horse making his first career start at age 9 is rare enough to stop a racing fan in the paddock, and Timer Moses was set to do exactly that in an $8,500 maiden claiming race at five furlongs at Turf Paradise. The gelding drew the inside post in a field of eight, a peculiar place to begin a career that had been delayed for years by legal complications and injury.

Timer Moses was foaled on Feb. 3, 2017, and was bought for $32,000 by Anita Anderson at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale. He showed early promise with two three-furlong workouts at Turf Paradise in 2020, then stalled when he was tied up in an estate deal after Anderson’s death. Chad Story said the horse stood in limbo from ages 4 through 7, then got back to work later, only to be interrupted again when he kicked a wall and hurt his leg.

The long road back has been reflected in the worktab. Timer Moses logged seven workouts in 2024 and 11 more this year before the scheduled debut, including a five-furlong move in 59.40 seconds on March 26 and a three-furlong gate work in 39.00 on April 25. Story has made clear the expectations are modest, saying Timer Moses can run a little, but the inside draw is not ideal for a horse that does not leave the gate especially fast.

That makes the debut as much a test of patience as speed. Many tracks do not even allow maidens to race at age 9, which adds another layer to a start that already reads like an anomaly. The field also included two 4-year-olds, three 5-year-olds and two 6-year-olds, so Timer Moses was not simply old for a maiden, he was old against horses still in the middle of their development.

Pedigree adds another point of interest. Timer Moses is by Mineshaft out of Fantasy Bay, a three-time winner by Bluegrass Cat, and he is a full brother to Litigant. Litigant, now 10, has won nine races in 58 starts, including a $5,000 claimer at Tampa Bay Downs in December, and most recently finished sixth of seven in a $6,250 claimer there in February.

The setting only sharpened the story. Turf Paradise opened on Jan. 7, 1956, at 19th Avenue and Bell Road in Phoenix, and it has long been one of Arizona racing’s defining venues. Under its current lease arrangement with Gary Hartunian’s group, the track has been operating through a period of uncertainty while a possible new Phoenix-area location is explored. Against that backdrop, Timer Moses offered a different kind of drama: not a stakes horse chasing glory, but a 9-year-old finally getting his first chance to run.