By eight they are usually past their best, the strenuous effort of the race, the roar of the crowds, the hugs of a loving strapper all but a distant memory.

But every now and then a very special thoroughbred comes along, one who thrives on racing, who finds the routine of stable life enjoyable, who just gets better and better - even after 60 starts!

Such critics had no idea what was happening with Bomber Bill behind the scenes but a committed group of people where determined to see him regain his best form and he did just that last spring, running a first up second to Spinning Hill in the Moir Stakes on W.S Cox Plate Day.

Taken to Adelaide in the summer, Bomber Bill finished strongly to take out the Group 3 R.N Irwin Stakes before his third consecutive run in the Australia Stakes - this time finishing a close up sixth behind Yell.

Just missing a placing on an unsuitably wet track in the Galaxy (flashing home late along the rails), Bomber Bill returned to Melbourne for a soft in at Moonee Valley and he was then again on the road, back to Adelaide.

"Most horses need their feet trimmed," joked Marsden, "with Bomber Bill we add!"

Prior to his win in the Irwin Stakes in Adelaide in February, in fact just five days before, half of one of Bomber Bill's hoofs actually broke away - his speedy recovering testament to Marsden's skills.

Equilox, a glue like substance that sets and becomes a part of the foot, was employed and Bomber Bill showed no ill affects - since that time working and racing, according to Cannon "better than ever."

Cannon plays no small part in this, each morning poulticing Bomber Bill's feet in order to prevent infections that may lead to abscesses - another problem that the horse has endured on a number of occasions.

One such horse started his career in a 2Y0 handicap at Ascot in Perth way back on December 20 1997 - the Air de France gelding Bomber Bill winning that race by a length.

A $31,000 Classic yearling sale purchase, Bomber Bill went on to win his next six races in Perth for owner Vic Schlesniak (Jnr) - the highlight of his juvenile career a 3.3 length victory in the Group One Karrakatta Plate.

And so Bomber Bill knocked up his first win at the elite level at the tender age of two, that one for his first trainer Hec McLaren.

Transferred to John Sadler in the spring of 1998, Bomber Bill did not take long to find winning form in Melbourne, second up taking out the Listed Hilton On The Park Stakes at Flemington on the final day of Cup week.

Another Listed win followed in the summer but Bomber Bill was winless for a while - finding his best form with a win over Sports, Umrum and Paint in the Group 3 Gilgai Stakes in October 2000.

A second Hilton On The Park win followed shortly after and in January 2001 Bomber Bill - now trained by Russell Cameron - recorded his second Group One victory, taking out the Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley.

Always travelling well, Bomber Bill had a length on his rivals at the finish - that win earning him a trip to Dubai where he contested the Group 3 Golden Shaheen.

At seven Bomber Bill was in prime form and ready for another test at the highest level and the Group One Goodwood Handicap was that test. One which he passed with flying colours - for his fourth trainer Robert Smerdon getting well back from barrier nine, finding trouble but storming home and drawing clear by 2.3 lengths.

Thriving with the challenges of travel, Bomber Bill was then a gutsy second to Into the Night in the QTC Cup at Eagle Farm before heading to the paddock as the winner of 18 of his 56 starts.
With a bank roll in excess of $1.3 million, Bomber Bill had done all that had been asked of him, sometimes racing below his best but at other times relishing racing with the zest of a 2Y0.

And the story doesn't end there – Bomber Bill a fast finishing third to Lovely Jubly first up at Caulfield in late August, a game second to Titanic Jack in the Bobbie Lewis Stakes before an unlucky run in the Manikato Stakes and a brave second victory (three years apart) in the Group 3 Gilgai Stakes.

So what keeps Bomber Bill going? His own will to win, his athleticism, his raw ability - but also because he is surrounded by people whose main aim is to ensure his wellbeing.

Much loved by his devoted carer, jockey Naomi Parker (who has ridden him just once on raceday - to a Moonee Valley victory in May), Bomber Bill is a favourite of Pat Cannon's and also of his farrier Steve Marsden.

Whilst being prepared by three different trainers since coming from Perth, Bomber Bill has always been an Aquanita horse and Cannon has been there every step of the way.

"The horse's heel contracts as they run," Marsden explained, "which means that bugs can get in the gaps."

Prior to his daily poultice, Bomber Bill is also given the ice treatment - standing in two buckets of freezing water for ten minutes whilst Cannon and Parker give him the attention he deserves - the hand feeding something he will miss when he retires!

Without such attention to detail, a horse like Bomber Bill could not race, let alone win, let alone compete at the highest level.

Bomber Bill has repaid his carers however, and he is everybody's favourite – Marsden considering the Goodwood Handicap the most satisfying win of any horse he has worked on.

And he has worked on plenty, Marsden a farrier for 25 years - kicking off his career as an apprentice working on ponies at Ballan. He had racing in his blood, his father Lyle a jockey and later a trainer.

Marsden too tried his hand at training, preparing the talented Skilero - a horse that Marsden decided to hand over to John Sadler.
"He had so much ability that I thought my inexperience was preventing him doing his best," he said, adding that he decided that "training was not for me."

Five years ago Marsden established Lerderderg Forge and he now employs four other farriers who are kept busy working for Aquanita and such trainers as Rick Hore- Lacy, Leon Macdonald, Therese Patton and the Paynes - as well as for various harness racing trainers and studs.

A typical day for Marsden consists of a 6am start at the stables, checking the horses due to run that day and preparing those for future race dates. The afternoons are spent on the road, country properties on the agenda.

A horse who had rarely run a bad race in his life, Bomber Bill was beaten over 20 lengths, regular rider Steve Arnold telling stable foreman Pat Cannon that "he was a beaten horse after 100m."

Failing to handle the going which Cannon described as ‘heavy dirt,’ Bomber Bill pulled up a tired horse - proving irksome on the trip home and failing to fill a placing during a subsequent spring campaign.

In January last year he showed that he was not a finished horse however, splitting Intelligent Star and Sudurka in the Rubiton Stakes before a trip to Sydney and a win over Mistegic in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Warwick Farm.

Also proving too good for Defier in the Group 3 Liverpool City Cup, Bomber Bill returned to Melbourne where he was a close up fourth in stablemate Toledo's Australia Stakes.

A winter campaign saw Bomber Bill lose his form - during this time the horse placed in a prominent newspaper's ‘sin bin’ and detractors saying that he should be retired.

And those steps have not always been easy ones, those ready to critisize horses when they race below their best not realising the effort that goes behind getting a horse to the track.

Especially when that horse has his problems, as Bomber Bill always has – the gelding, even since coming to Melbourne, suffering from the affects of his flat feet.

When a horse's hoof hits the ground, it absorbs the shock of a 500kg animal at high speed. If that horse's conformation is all as it should be, the shock should dissipate as it travels from the foot through the fetlock joint and up the cannon bone to the knees before spreading evenly to the rest of the body.

For a horse with flat feet the first point of contact is a weak link, one that puts pressure elsewhere. Which is where the skills of a good farrier come in very handy indeed. Steve Marsden is one such farrier and he has been kept busy with the challenges presented by Bomber Bill for over a year now - his feet needing constant attention.

"The cushion isn't there," Marsden said, "and the blood flow around the foot and up the leg is not as good as it should be – causing the coffin bone to jar."

Plus, in Bomber Bill's case, there is a lack of hoof growth - none in fact!

It is not easy work but Marsden says it "is all I know" and he finds it challenging, hopeful that the art of farriery will be appreciated by future generations.

"There are not enough apprentices at the moment," he said, pointing out that there are between thirty and forty in training at any one time with the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE - "but we need a hundred."

Currently around 150 registered farriers service Victoria's racehorses but the rate of retirement is higher than that of recruitment and Marsden says that "the horse industry is bigger than it was twenty years ago."

Hoping that more young people will see farriery as a viable option, Marsden says that it "is a great career - and you can earn good money."

Whilst acknowledging that "the sore back and the sweat" are the worst aspects of the trade, Marsden says it is all worthwhile - the positive aspects more than making up for the negative.

"There is something about working outdoors with animals," he said, "and all horse people - racing people in particular – are really good to work with - they all have a passion for what they are doing."

And that passion was apparent during a morning with Bomber Bill and his team, everyone's affection for him obvious - "he is quiet as a lamb, he just follows us around," said Cannon - "he is a pretty amazing old horse," said Marsden - "I love him," said Parker.