Evening star., 1938-07-14
From The
Press Box
Greyhound Makes Only
Modest Bow to Rocinq
.Thorouehbreds.
BY JOHN LARDNER,


Special Correspondent Of The Star.
GOSHEN, N. Y. July 14.-All by
himself in the matter of pulling
. wagon is Greyhound, the great gray
trotting horse, who goes against the
clock this afternoon for . new mile
record on 0oshen's famous old kite
shaped track.
The clock may be able to give him
some trouble. Nothing else can. The
mile record for . half-mile track is
minute 5sA seconds. held by the
Hound himself. Sep Palm, his griz-
Eled trainer, believes that the big
fellow is fit and ready to cut a second
or two OF the mark.
Palm was talking about Greyhound
the other day. Well, he talks about
him every day. This time he was COM
pairing the gray spook with his city
cousin, the thoroughbred horse, for
speed and stamina. Greyhound, like
all trotters and PAGERS. is not thor
.oushbred, but standard-bred-se
on one side Of the family only.
Thoroughbreds Shun Work.
Thoroughbreds are the aristocrats
and gravy horses of the species, though
many Of them are very unpleasant
characters, indeed, and If you were
looking for . horse to put your trust
and friendship in, and perhaps touch
tor . modest two bucks. you would
do well to seek out Flossie, who hauls
the milk cart, ahead OF most Of those
belted earls and barons from the run
ming tracks.
The depravity of the average thor.
oughbred would astonish you. It is
hard for any one to love . thorough
bred but his mother, and even his
mother is likely to be neutral.
Anyway, Sep Palm says that Grey
hound is not only . sweeter and
stronger character than the thor
'oughbred, but much more horse as
well.
Most people don't realize it." he
says, but my horse, trotting and
pulling his sulky and driver, will
go quarter mile within q second
or two Of the best thoroughbred run
ming horses time. Until you've
studied the figures and measured and
analyzed the stride, you can't be-
heve what whale of . lot Of ground
q good trotter devours with that gait
Of his. and how fast he eats 1t up"
And the trotting horse has Just
started. AS you know, big trotting
stakes are run in two or more heats
Of mile each. The trotter is as
likely as not to cover the last heat
In faster time than the first. The
thoroughbred horse? They would
have to carry that wealthy bum
home from the second heat on
stretcher. In fact. they would have
q terrible time getting him to start
. second heat.
The thoroughbred will not work
overtime even for double pay. He
likes money. But not for overtime.
Good for Only One Gallop.
The running horse runs himself
out In one gallop. OF course, that
one gallop may call for 2 miles, Or
az. or 3, and some Of the thorough.
hreds, the stout ones, can cover that
sort Of distance on the nat In fast
time. But so can Greyhound.
Greyhound can pull his wagon all
day." says Sep Palm.
I've told you about the fundamental
weakness Of all horses, as demon
etrated by Tom Longboat. the old In
dian marathon runner, in the days
when ho herded the livestock on his
fathers farm In Canada. The boy
Longboat was . fair runner. The
horses weren't. That is to say they
began 10 wilt after the first 20 miles.
Sometimes they would run away,
and Thomas would light out after
them. The finish was always the
same. Before young Longboat could
work up An honest sweat-say tn ~
r 23 miles-the fugitive horse would
drop In his arms.
Horses do not care to 60 the mara
thon distance. But, If there ever was
. horse I would back against Mr..
Lonsboat, 1t Is Greyhound, sulky and
all.
Since he won the Hambletonian in
1885. the Hound has lorded 1t over the
trotting world with tolerance and wis
dom. He Is something to see-in his
barn, as he listens with grave intelli-
gence to Sep Palms remarks, or on
the track, where his silver hide CLEANS
IN front Of the field Of browns and
bays. His power is effortless, and his
character would have made Horatio
Alger weep with JOY.
II the weather holds, and nobody
naislays the old kite-shaped track,
Greyhound very ligely will trot himself
another world record in the late sun
shine Of this afternoon.
(copyright. 1898. By the North Ameris N
Newspaper Alliance, Inc.)