Ten Years Ago This Month

The cover of the March 1998 Greyhound Review featured Colorado star Beams Full Moon, winner of the 1998 Interstate Winter Sprint and Cloverleaf Inaugural. He was named captain of the 1997 All-Mile High Team after a year highlighted by capturing the $100,000 Colorado Classic. Other team members included Guys & Dolls champ Galilee, Timberline winner Granny, Mile High Inaugural winner Lord Dempsey, Interstate Juvenile champ Leggonized, as well as Full Of Spirit, Pat C Catcall, and Pat C Caste.

ML Taffy Crunch upset ML Dusty Trail and Seegold Excell in the He's My Man Royal Palm Classic at Palm Beach. Dusty Trail ran into all kinds of trouble and finished last and Taffy Crunch held gamely to beat Seegold Excell by a nose. Excell was a $9,000 1997 NGA Fall Meet purchase.

The great Bomb Threat won the Derby Lane All-Star Kennel Preview. Running out of the Greyameadow Kennel and trained by Mick D'Arcy, he ran past favorite Oshkosh Slammer for the title.

MDM Phantom Lite was dominating Southland in early 1998 winning seven-straight. Jet Set Jerry set a Southland track record over the 660-yard course at 36.54.

The 1997 final Sire Standings were announced. The late HB's Commander topped the list, followed by Oshkosh Racey, Mi Designer, Wigwam Wag, Trouper Zeke, Bara Buzz, EJ's Douglas, Hey Vern, Flying Train and Tipp Lad*. The Dam Standings were topped by Steves Stones, followed by Panama Pee Wee, ML Hello Dolly, Rema Bellmard, Riley's Marymary, Dakota Penny, RL Dalley, Yellow Rose, Mi Tate, and Sparkling Babe.

Lincoln topped all U.S. tracks in 1997 for average purses per performance with $22,553. Multnomah was second with $20,966; Derby Lane third at $16,536; Wheeling fourth, $14,761; Bluffs Run fifth, $13,650; Hollywood sixth, 13,629; Raynham seventh, $13,337; Tampa 8th, $13,179; Southland 9th, $12,764; and Phoenix tenth, $12,613.

Gable Dodge, ML Taffy Crunch, and 1997 American Derby winner Phoebe Ann were Gary Guccione's Greyhounds of the Month. Gable Dodge had won 29 of his last 46 starts, often going off at odds of ten cents to the dollar.

P's Raising Cain was by far the most popular stud in the country with 27 breedings. Wigwam Wag was a distant second with 12, followed by Trojan Episode with 11, Dungaree and Greys Statesman with nine, and Oshkosh Racey with eight. A young super-sire in the making, Molotov, managed only four breedings.

Where has our history gone? Part II

While filling in race winners on Greyhound-data from a variety of sources, I came across Holy Brother, a tremendous dog from the early 1950s. There are a number of dogs who accomplished less who are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Holy Brother, Black dog, whelped 25 September 1950; owner, G. A. Alderson.

2nd 1952 Taunton Blue Ribbon Stake
Fnl 1952 Taunton American Derby
1st 1953 Derby Lane Inaugural
1st 1953 Derby Lane Festival Stake
1st 1953 St. Pete Derby
1st 1953 Mile High Jack Fisher Memorial
1st 1953 Mile High Timberline Stake
1st 1953 Taunton Blue Ribbon Stake
4th 1953 Taunton American Derby
1st 1954 St. Pete Derby
1st 1954 Mile High Jack Fisher Memorial
1st 1954 Mile High Denver Post Empire Race
2nd 1954 Mile High Timberline Stake
Fnl 1954 Taunton American Derby

To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of him until I found most of his stakes wins in the American Greyhound Racing Encyclopedia 1963. There is scant mention of him in Great Names In Greyhound Pedigrees. If anyone has a picture of Holy Brother, or any further info, please e-mail me.

Where has our history gone?

Outside of Great Names In Greyhound Pedigrees, Volumes I and II, we in the racing community have done a poor job of documenting the great history of Greyhound stakes races. Newer fans of racing and recent members of the National Greyhound Association do not have stacks of back issues of Greyhound Review to consult, and even many long-time members discard old issues.

To that end I've started a new project to add the pedigrees of every stake winner in U.S. racing history to the Greyhound-data site. I have a number of sources, primarily the American Greyhound Racing Encyclopedia (1963), as well as lists such as the one in the February 1997 issue of Greyhound Review (pp. 73-86).
I'm missing a number of Stud Books from the racing era, particularly, 1946, 1937, 1935, and 1929-1932. Other than those, I have all the rest from 1933 to present.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Anyone who owns those volumes, especially Volume 39 (1946), I'd like to hear from you.

jcsperson@yahoo.com