WV favorite Penguin Power retired
The Biz
November 25, 2025
Penguin Power, one of West Virginia’s most durable and beloved runners of the past decade, has been retired after a career that spanned eight seasons and produced a remarkable blend of consistency, class, and regional star power.
Susan Runco, wife of trainer Jeff Runco, announced the retirement on Facebook.
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The now-10-year-old gelding leaves the racetrack with a record of 49 starts, 21 wins, 8 seconds, 10 thirds, and $646,334 in earnings.
Bred by the late John D. McKee, Penguin Power is by Fiber Sonde out of the Robb mare Aye Robbin, herself stakes-placed and a producer of talent. He is a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Aye a Song, and from his debut score on Sept. 21, 2017, it became clear he inherited the family’s considerable ability.
He went on to compete through this year, making his final start, a fourth-place finish in allowance company, Oct. 24. He earned his final victory on Feb. 26 of this year.
Few horses have built a résumé as uniquely tied to West Virginia Breeders’ Classics night as Penguin Power. In one of the most extraordinary streaks in the event’s history, he won a race on the card five consecutive years.
His first three WVBC triumphs came in the seven-furlong Onion Juice, where his tactical speed and relentless drive made him a standout. As he grew older, he reinvented himself as a dash specialist, capturing the Dash for Cash at 4 1/2 furlongs in 2022 and 2023.
Penguin Power was trained throughout his career by Jeff Runco, ridden most recently by Arnaldo Bocachica, and owned by David M. Raim. He has been sent to the Virginia Thoroughbred Project, where he joins nearly three dozen other off-track Thoroughbreds and will enjoy his retirement.
On Facebook, Susan Runco shared a glimpse of that homecoming, a photo of Penguin Power on one side of a fence and two other horses on the other:
“Happy Retirement, Penguin Power! North Atlantic and Sea Rescue were his official greeters today at the Virginia Thoroughbred Project,” she wrote.
The moment carried a sense of continuity and history. North Atlantic was Penguin Power’s stablemate from 2017 through 2021, while Sea Rescue, whose own career concluded in 2014, predated them both and is now 19.
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