Age is no handicap: Horse trainer, 96, is oldest to win race

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) At 96, Jerry Bozzo is now the oldest thoroughbred trainer to win a race.

The milestone came when Cotton Tooyah rallied from off the pace Saturday to win by 4 + lengths in the second race at Gulfstream Park in Florida.

Bozzo surpassed Noble Threewitt, who won a race for the last time at age 95 at Santa Anita in 2006. Bozzo already was the oldest trainer to win a stakes race, with Flutterby in the Sea Lily at Gulfstream in 2015.

Bozzo is a retired aeronautical engineer, industrialist and World War II veteran. He has been breeding and training thoroughbreds in South Florida since the 1970s.

He says people ask him why he's still training horses at his age. His reply? He enjoys it.