The mighty Standardbred Greyhound was foaled in 1932 in Kentucky. He was one of those awkward colts, growing fast and standing 16.2 hands as a two year old. He was sold at auction for only 800 dollars. The bidders overlooked his sire, the noted stallion Guy Abbey, and only saw that this gawky colt didn't look like a speedy horse. Looks can be deceiving.
Turned out he was an amazing trotter. Greyhound had a 23 foot stride, plenty of speed and all the courage a race horse needs. He was easy to handle, very responsive to his driver, and could trot at a speed of 25 miles per hour. Nearly always in the money, and usually the winner, Greyhound became a crowd favorite. His style was to start each race out in front and stay there till the end. By the time he was retired in 1940, after seven years of racing, he had broken records for just about every distance from a quarter mile to two miles. The records show that more than 25 times he trotted a mile in two minutes or less, which record has still not been broken by any other trotter. His accomplishments are even more amazing when you consider the track surfaces and the type of sulkies used in his day. In 1938 he tied the world record of 1:57 1/4 for the mile. In that same year he took a full 10 seconds off the world's exhibition record for the mile and a half by polishing it off in 3:02 1/2. One of his more memorable records was trotting the mile in 1:55 1/4 at the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky -- this record stood for 31 years. Greyhound was not only gray, he was an iron gray in every sense of the words.
After his retirement in 1940, Greyhound was brought out on occasion for exhibitions. His owner, Col. Baker, also allowed visitors to Baker Farm to view Greyhound through a plate glass window as he relaxed in his 15 by 30 foot stall, a pampered and contented retiree. He stayed in good health until February 1965 when he died at the ripe old age of 33, and was buried at the Baker Farm horse cemetery. Many have called him the greatest trotting horse of all time.
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