GREYHOUND IS ONE OF FEW GREY CHAMPIONS

Southland Times, Issue 24000, 15 December 1939, Page 15

GREYHOUND IS ONE OF FEW GREY CHAMPIONS

Time Records Which May Never Be Bettered

ST is probably by reason of their rarity and showy qualities that grey horses are so popular. A dapple-grey is the finest of show horses, but when a grey racehorse is as equable in disposition as the present world champion trotter* Greyhound the animal is bound to captivate the imagination of sports lovers. Greyhound is affectionately known to the world at large as the “Grey Ghost,” because in action he is like some smoothgliding phantom. Capable of travelling at a rate of 31 miles an hour, the grey claims world records in the trotting branch over a quarter of a mile (26£sec), one

mile (Imin 55sec), and a mile and a half (3min 2|sec). The only other grey trotter to become a world figure was Lady Suffolk, the first to break 2min 30sec for the mile. That was away back in • / 1845. However, Greyhound claims the distinction that he is the first champion trotter who was also a highclass performer as a colt. Peter Manning and Uhlan, the previous champions, did not race until they were four years old, whereas the present star put up records at two, three, four, and five years. America Leads

The trotting horse during the present .century has become the national horse of America, but had other countries continued to breed their own trotting families on selective lines America’s superiority might not have

dominated matters to the same extent as it does today. During the first quarter of last century the fastest trotters were to be found in England. They were known as Norfolk trotters, and could at that time trot one mile or 100 miles in less time than any of the trotters bred in the United States or Russia. On one occasion a mare called Nonpareil trotted 100 miles in 9hr Omin 57sec, pulling a vehicle known as a “match cart.” This performance took place at least ten years before the American mare Fanny Jenks trotted .the journey in 9hr 38min 3sec. Norfolk Phenomenon trotted two miles in smin 4sec, a 2min 32sec rate to the mile, six years before Yankee ran a 3min clip. The best time ever made for two miles by a trotter in America before 1840 was smin Usee, which was seven seconds slower than the time of Norfolk Phenomenon. English breeders, however, did not concentrate on the trotter, and today America holds pride of place and it is to this country that the Dominion looks for its importations. Today, all the leading trotting sires the world over are American or largely of American blood. The Wilkes Family THE name of Wilkes is talismanic in the trotting world, and the family of which this son of Hambletorian 10 was the head, grew to be the most popular and strongest in numbers of the day. However, some 30 years after he was without reputation as a sire, but the arrival of Axworthy and his son Guy Axworthy brought about a great revival, and it is the latter who is the sire of Greyhound, who, unfortunately, is a gelding. Although Greyhound is capable of carrying his activities still further, his record will probably stand for all time, no matter what the future brings, for, apart from his record-breaking performances, his race record is a truly wonderful one.