Gray Unacceptable for Standardbred

Posted by BarbaraAnne Helberg Oct 24, 2007

Society, traditionally, exacts certain qualities for acceptance into established circles.

In the 1800s Standardbred grays were considered outlandish. Their color was wrong.

At an Indianapolis auction in 1933, Greyhound, a yearling male who had been gelded because his unacceptable color automatically reduced his value as a breeder, appealed to a buyer named E.J. Baker of Illinois. Baker paid $900 for Greyhound and handed him over to driver-trainer Sep Palin.

Greyhound quickly set about earning back his owner's payout. At two years old, he recorded a mile in 2:043/4, a two year old gelding record. In 1935, the speedy trotter reeled in a win in the trotter's elite Hambletonian Stake held at Goshen, New York's Good Time Park.

With eight consecutive wins in 1935, Greyhound closed his season undefeated. His best time was a new record for the mile, 2:00. Greyhound was four before he was beaten.

Fourteen world titles were secured under his gray hoofbeats. He went twenty-three times under the wire in two minutes, or less; that accumulation being seven less times than the unstoppable Dan Patch had recorded.

As M.W. Savage never let go of Dan Patch, Baker never parted with Greyhound, his "Gray Ghost".

Lady Suffolk, the Old Gray Mare, blitzed to a 2:26 mile under saddle in 1845. She pulled wagons and high wheeled sulkies, all in blazing times. Few were her equal. Yet, it was her color that earned her immortality in folk song.

Sometimes I'm frustrated over the pace at which society seems to want to run. But, in reality, we're really kind of slow, aren't we?