Olden Times

Olden Times (1958–1985) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Olden Times was conceived in France and bred in California^[1] and was raced by Rex Ellsworth, who also bred and raced U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Swaps.^[2] He was conditioned for racing by Hall of Fame trainer Mesh Tenney from a base in California.^[3] Ridden by Hank Moreno,

Olden Times won top races on both dirt and grass at racetracks across the United States from 1960 through 1964 at distances from five eighths of a mile ^[4] to a mile and three quarters.^[5] He was sired by Relic, an American multiple stakes race winner who became the leading broodmare sire in France in 1965. Olden Times' dam was Djenne, a daughter of 1942 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner and five-time Leading sire in France Djebel.^[6]

On 30 April 1964 Olden Times captured the Churchill Downs Handicap by 2+3⁄4 lengths in a time of 1:212⁄5 setting a new track record for the seven furlong distance.^[1]

Olden Times capped off his career with a 1964 win over Belmont Stakes winner Quadrangle in the prestigious Metropolitan Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York.^[7]

Retired to stud duty for the 1965 breeding season, Olden Times was a successful sire. The best of his progeny was Roving Boy, voted the 1982 Eclipse Award as the American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. A winner of five of his seven starts in 1982, Roving Boy earned $800,425 that year, at the time the highest ever for his age group.^[8] Among Olden Times' other successful offspring were multiple stakes winners Full Pocket (f. 1969), Blue Times (f. 1971), Dainty Dotsie (f. 1974), Dr. Riddick (f. 1974), and Vittorioso (f. 1979).^[9]