Three former horse drivers relived the old memories when they brought the curtain down on the Boxing Day racing programme at the Bermuda Equestrian Centre.

Kenneth Mills, Bobby DeGraff and Sergio Raynor took part in the veterans race. Mills, driving Double Time, was the winner in 1:05/3, followed by DeGraff, who was operating Rockeyed Optimist in 1:05/4, while Raynor finished third handling HuntinForGold in 1:06/1.

The 55-year-old Mills noted the dwindling number of horses, as most of the races on the day were two-horse contests.

“It was about having more fun than winning for me,” Mills told The Royal Gazette.

“I don’t know the opponents at all, so I just had to go out there and just enjoy it. Whatever comes, it comes, just having fun with it.

“Unfortunately, everything has dropped down, not as competitive as it was back in the day. When I used to race, we had at least 30 ponies.

“But it’s always more or less a family event any way. Now that I have grandchildren, I hope I can inspire them to race horses.

“Back in the day, we were racing against six ponies in a race. Now you have two or three ponies in a race. I don't know if it’s from the pandemic or if the prices are going up, bringing in ponies now is still expensive, so I heard.

“I was looking to get one myself, but I don't know, we’ll see how it goes.”

DeGraff seemed to have had a great time steering Maurice Raynor’s gelding, as he showed that he has not lost his touch.

“It was awesome, I had lots of fun even if it was one race,” he said.

“I think the pony went faster with me than he did in his other races. It was a tight race and it was the third race for each of the horses as they normally run two races.”

Comparing his racing days and the present day, the 53-year-old DeGraff, who last raced during the 2012-13 season, thought that there are less challenges for the contemporary drivers.

“It was a lot harder back then with more ponies and more competition,” he said.

“We had roughly 50-60 ponies on a race day. During those days, we had a lot more thinking and you had to make decisions fast.

“I was happy to see a lot of youngsters, which is good. That is the next generation of drivers.

“My son wants to get a pony so he can get into racing. He had his first time jogging a pony on Christmas Eve at Belhaven Stables and said he likes it.”

Meanwhile, Smart Machine clocked the fastest time on the track in the 1:03/0 and faster time bar. With Martins at the helm, the Belhaven Stables gelding registered 1:01/4 in heat seven, to beat Red October, of Simsfield Stables, who finished in 1:03/2 with Philip Correia as the driver.

In the last heat of the day, Martins guided the same horse to victory in 1:02/2, seeing off the challenge of Red October, who had a time of 1:02/3.

Martins, who is in her third season with her family-owned horse, was amazed with how the pony performed.

“I am impressed with him,” Martins said.

“The pony shows a lot of potential. He was doing well last season then he got an injury that put him out around this time last season.

“ I’m just trying to figure him out. I’m so excited for the full season with him and going into New Year’s Day races.

“I’ve had him since he was a two-year-old and he’s four now and like last season, he ran and he tied the three-year-old record of 1:01 in three. He did a 1:01 in four and that’s a fifth of a second to the fastest he’s ever run.

“I’m very impressed with him and I look forward to every race day. They get fitter and faster as the season goes on, so they can only improve.”

Amanda Martins, the race secretary, was excited by what the former drivers brought to the track.

“The idea was to get people back on the bike, draw a crowd and have something fun for everyone to watch,” she said.

“I think it went really well. I haven’t seen any of those guys drive in a long time, some of them finished driving before I even started coming down here, it was nice to see them back on their bikes.

“On New Year's Day we will have our Powder Puff race, which is for anyone who’s never driven before. They can hop on a bike and race against the clock to see how they do.

“It’s just a fun race for them to have a chance to get on the bike. So far we have four people signed up, they’ve been coming to Belhaven Stables, getting used to the horses, learning what it feels like to sit on the bike and then they’ll come down here on New Year's Day.”

Most of the races on the day were nail-biting, with little to separate the ponies on the track.

“We had a lot of photo finishes today, which meant we had to go to the camera floor,” Amanda Martins added.

“I think everyone was racing to end the year with a bang, they were out to win their heats.

“Smart Machine getting the fastest time so far of the season was the highlight, but Red October was right on his heels chasing that record too.

“Come January 1, I think we can expect those two to keep going for the record. It’s going to be a fight between Red October and Smart Machine for the rest of the season.”