Trainer Doug Nunn has one goal left for Smithwick’s Spice as the 10-year-old gelding winds down his career: One more win so the rugged Jersey-bred can retire in style.

The next attempt comes Saturday at Monmouth Park, when Smithwick’s Spice makes the 59^th start of his career in an optional $15,000 claimer for state-breds at 5½ furlongs on the grass.

The eight-race card will begin with a $53,056 carryover in the early Pick 5.

“He’s been my best horse by far,” said Nunn, who started training in 1992. “He has meant everything to me. So I really want him to go out a winner and to be able to retire on a good note. Just one more win. That’s all I want for him.”

A son of Frost Giant bred and owned by New Spice Stable, Smithwick’s Spice has been with Nunn for all but two of his career starts. Of his $775,957 in career earnings, all but $37,500 of it has been earned while with Nunn.

“I’m retiring him after this year,” said Nunn. “He’s lost a step and he’s not the same horse he used to be. But he wants to be a racehorse. Even when he does retire he won’t be fully retired because he wants to run. He loves what he does.”

For his career, Smithwick’s Spice has 15 wins, 10 seconds and nine thirds. He has won 10-of-30 lifetime grass starts.

But it wasn’t until Nunn lost Smithwick’s Spice to a claim in 2022 that everything changed for the gelding. Nunn claimed him back for $15,000, tried him on the turf and has seen the horse flourish since, owning four stakes win over his career.

“I had him as a yearling. I broke him myself,” said Nunn. “I lost him (to the claim) before he ever got on the grass. I claimed him back, put him on the grass, and he has earned another $500,000 since then.”

Nunn also wants to keep another streak alive with Smithwick’s Spice – who made his career debut by finishing second at Monmouth Park in 2018 — before the horse calls it quits.

“I have won a race with him every year I’ve had him,” he said. “I just want to get one more win for him.”

Smithwick’s Spice heads into Saturday 0-for-2 this year, coming off a third-place finish in a $22,000 claimer on May 31 at 5½ furlongs on the grass at Monmouth Park. From 11 career turf starts at Monmouth Park he has five wins and five thirds.

“He’s coming back slowly from an injury,” said Nunn. “He needed eight months off and it has taken a lot longer for him to come back. At an older age it’s harder to get them fit. So he’s trying to get fit by racing. I think the third race off the layoff means a lot. The third race off a long layoff can be when the one a horse gets the most out of.

“My biggest concern right now is the forecast with the possibility of rain Thursday and Friday. I don’t know at his age if I would run him off the turf. With the injury he is coming off I’d really have to think about it if it comes off the turf.”

When Smithwick’s Spice does retire – Nunn says he has a handful of starts left – it will be a hit to Nunn’s four-horse stable. He did, however, purchase two yearlings during the current OBS sale in Ocala, Fla., and was looking for possibly one more.

But it will be nearly impossible for a horse to replace Smithwick’s Spice for Nunn. The horse is running in claimers now in part because of his age but also because the options are limited for him.

“He has been such a good horse for me,” said Nunn. “There’s no way I will ever replace him.”