'He outlasted all of them': How 13-year-old gelding succeeds as one of oldest racehorses (2024)

Nearly twice the age of every horse stalled around him, Bam Bam Cam does not look the part — at least on the track.

The 13-year-old brown gelding, one of the nation’s oldest thoroughbred racehorses, continues to defy age with his recent success at FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, formerly known as Fairmount Park Race Track. Owned by Edwardsville High assistant hockey coach Rob Wiemers, Bam Bam Cam recently won consecutive races, continuing a remarkable turnaround for the veteran.

“As a hockey coach, you’re always wishing for a player that you know is going to give their best effort every single shift, and when you got a player like that, you know what you’re going to get and you trust them,” Wiemers said. “With Bam Bam, you know what you’re going to get — his best effort every single race.”

Foaled March 12, 2011, Bam Bam Cam is the fifth-oldest thoroughbred racehorse in the United States. Only 15-year-olds Vintage Vinnie and Mystic Strike, 14-year-old Schoodic and 13-year-old Rough Passage are older than Bam Bam Cam, and none of those thoroughbreds boast the success Wiemers’ horse has this year.

Living up to the mantra “age is just a number,” Bam Bam Cam has a pair of victories and a second-place finish in five races this year. After going winless since Aug. 19, 2022, Bam Bam Cam won starts June 8 and June 29.

“He has come from behind both races,” Wiemers said. “He’s been third both times around that last turn, and he just turned it on. He just he seems like he’s getting stronger with age, which is hard to explain. But as he turns that straightaway, he’s been flying.”

The oldest of five horses owned by JW Racing Group, an organization Wiemers is a part of, Bam Bam Cam did not record a finish higher than third last year. That prompted the horse’s trainers — husband-and-wife duo Harry and Becky Lynch — to keep Bam Bam Cam throughout last winter in hopes of rediscovering his success.

In the process, they may have unlocked a new gear for the 13-year-old.

“We kept him fed up, just like he was on a race (schedule),” Harry Lynch said. “He’s come back this year stronger than he ever has.”

Rejuvenated, Bam Bam Cam has another element working in his favor of late.

Longtime jockey Victor Santiago, who has accumulated 1,322 career first-place finishes, was atop Bam Bam Cam in both victories. It was the first two races the two veterans have teamed up for in their lives.

“(Santiago) has been the leading rider here for many years,” Harry Lynch said. “Victor, he knows how to ride, and it seems like it takes a rider that (Bam Bam Cam) likes (to succeed). ... We’ve had other people who have ridden him good, but if you get a (rider) on him that he likes, it rings.”

Of the 22 horses that reside at Lynch Stables at FanDuel, the eldest has totaled the sixth-most earnings with just five starts this season.

All the while, the success is coming in his age-13 season — a rarity among racehorses.

“I think mainly (what has impressed me) is just the fact that he continues to run hard and not show signs of age and wear,” Wiemers said. “He’s been able to bounce back so well, and I can’t give enough credit to Harry and Becky. They have done special care with him the entire time he’s been here, and he’s lucky to have them.”

From foal to fame

Before Bam Bam Cam, there was a carrot-loving yearling. Before a stable at FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, there was a farm in Waterloo. Before competition, there was curiosity.

But before all of that, there was a longtime friendship that put Wiemers and Bam Bam Cam on a collision course with one another.

“A good friend of mine, his brother was in the business for 40 years, and I’ve always heard them talk about (owning horses),” Wiemers said. “I would visit the farm down in Waterloo, and I had the opportunity to get involved, which I did when (Bam Bam Cam) was just a yearling. He was the first horse I owned.”

Bred by a pair of Wiemers’ longtime friends — Mike and Susan Jakovac — Bam Bam Cam came under the ownership of Wiemers after he was born. At the time, the racehorse was just a nameless foal.

That was until Wiemers reminisced about a nickname given to his now 21-year-old stepson and former Edwardsville hockey player, Cam Gillen.

“When (Gillen) was younger, a 6- or 7-year-old playing hockey, he just wanted to hit everybody,” Wiemers said. “He was the most physical player out there, and he got the nickname ‘Bam Bam Cam’ after Cam Neely of the Boston Bruins, and it just kind of stuck.

“I wanted to name a horse ‘Bam Bam Cam’ right when I got into this, and it was kind of fitting because hockey players are injured a lot, (Gillen) was always injured from his physicality. (Gillen) always bounced back, and Bam Bam Cam always bounces back. The name fits the reputation.”

Off the track, he has also benefited from a community-wide support system.

Leading an unofficial fan club for the racehorse, 13-year-old Isabel Armstrong leads the community fanfare. Armstrong is a hockey player in Edwardsville, where she came across Wiemers and eventually attended a race to watch Bam Bam Cam. Afterward, she had to meet him, and they instantly bonded over the racehorse’s favorite snack.

“The first time I ever fed (Bam Bam Cam) a carrot, he was really nice to me,” Armstrong said. “I usually make signs for him (and draw) pictures of him. He has one of my bracelets on, so I really like to make him signs (and) show my support.”

Armstrong is one of the many supporters of Bam Bam Cam, who seemingly grows in fame with each passing day. Wiemers said that across the region, people have developed a desire to watch Bam Bam Cam, not just because of his age but also the his determination to compete.

“We’ve retired a lot of good, nice horses (since), but he’s still going,” Wiemers said.

“He’s outlasted all of them.”

A resurgent racehorse

A longtime racing career never seemed to be in the cards for Bam Bam Cam.

Before his first race, he suffered a hairline fracture in one of his front legs that placed him in a cast. The young horse preserved through the injury, healing enough to start conditioning.

He debuted as a 5-year-old on Aug. 27, 2016, at Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky, placing fourth in a field of six. Bam Bam Cam followed that up with a second-place finish at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

However, after just two years of racing, which included six victories and three second-place finishes, Bam Bam Cam retired from racing due to rear-leg ligament damage.

“The ligament damage was something that, as he got older, we were concerned about,” Wiemers said. “We decided to get him back on farm and let him live a good life.”

But as Bam Bam Cam grew older, the damage healed; the passion returned, and the belief that the determined racehorse could make a comeback swelled.

Nearly five years after Bam Bam Cam’s retirement, Wiemers approached Harry Lynch about training the then-11-year-old horse. Lynch was hesitant, but the concerns were alleviated.

“The first time, after being off for five years, he left the gates like a 2-year-old,” Lynch said.

Embodying that youthful spirit, Bam Bam Cam made his return with a fourth-place finish on June 18, 2022. It took just one more race before the racehorse showed he had more left in the tank, stringing together three successive victories within a month.

That stretch included his first victory back from retirement on July 19, 2022.

“Probably the best memory I have is watching him come back from where he was,” Wiemers said, “training and getting that first win as an 11-year-old.”

Two years later, Bam Bam Cam is replicating that success in resounding fashion.

Wiemers said the team is plotting Bam Bam Cam’s future race by race to keep him out of harm’s way.

“If there are signs of him getting sore and older, then maybe it’s time for retirement,” Wiemers said. “We’ll be happy to retire him.”

When it does come time to put the saddle down for the last time, the plan is for Bam Bam Cam to become an equine therapy horse that assists children.

But the 13-year-old thoroughbred shows no signs of wearing down.

“With Bam Bam Cam, you know what you’re going to get,” Wiemers said. “You’re going to get his best out there every single race.”