August 29, 2025
It's been just over two years since I spent almost two weeks at a little cabin in New Jersery, about twenty-five minutes from Goshen, New York. I stayed there with my best friend, traveling buddy and research assistant, Boedy. This cabin near a section of the Appalachian Trail is on the site of an old mill of some sort. The ruins of the old structure remain, choked by the foliage as the wooded hillside reclaims the land where the mill once stood. 
        Today I drove past the road that the cabin is on. I was tempted to stop by and have a look but I was on my way back to the Harness Racing Museum and was already behind schedule. The last  time I drove that road and set eyes on that cabin, Boedy was with me. I'd completed the largest leg of my research journey for the Greyhound book and with hope in my heart imagined Boedy and I returning to this cabin in two years with a finished Greyhound book. Boedy would be fifteen years old by then and I wondered back then if I would still have him. As it turned out, Boedy didn't quite make it to the end of this particular journey. I lost him on June 16.

       I continued down the same road I drove many times two years before, nodding at the familiar landmarks and feeling the odd sensations that accompany a return to a place that is both known and unknown. I am completing this leg of the Greyhound journey without Boedy. I had a box of Greyhound books for the museum gift shop and a copy of the book to donate to the library--the trade for the use of the resources housed there (in addition to the payment of my annual membership--a nice feature of membership). 
       Goshen looked just as it did the last time I saw it. I'd hoped to stop at my favorite bagel shop but again, I was running behind schedule so I skipped it for now. I would try on my way out of town (as it turned out, I arrived too late, just minutes after closing...maybe next year). The museum greeted me with a familiar comfort as I walked through the door. A sort of "coming home" feeling that is known to anyone who spends as much time in the past as I do--when they cross the threshold of a place that contains so many pieces of what they are passionate about. 
       The museum had some new exhibits and a few changes to existing exhibits to celebrate the 100th Hambletonian. I looked forward to exploring but first I wanted to deliver the book to Paul, the librarian and catch up with Rebecca (collections curator), Janet (executive director), and Dillon (Rebecca's assistant--all of whom were very helpful in accessing and exploring the museums vast Greyhound collection.

Below: some of the artifacts at the museum. It's amazing what they have. For someone like me who loves the long-ago history of the sport, I particularly enjoyed the artifacts from the 1800s and early 1900s from such historical legends as Maude S, Goldsmith Maid, and Lou Dillon. 
Also of interest were the dioramas featuring models of famous Standardbreds from decades past. Many of these were part of Greyhound's pedigree and/or story.

        It was a full circle moment of sorts, to return to a place where an important part of this journey began. This time more than two years had passed but now I had a book--the finished product--in my hand. Back in 2023, with my Goshen trip behind me, I packed up my truck and Boedy and I headed to Michigan. There I spent the rest of the summer putting in hours a day, day after day, reading through all the information I collected, scanning thousands of pages of old newspapers on newspapers.com and scratching out the first (very rough) draft of Greyhound's story. That's the funny thing about writing that I never really thought about until it was part of my life--the fact that an author can work for months or even years without any pay at all, only the hope that a book will come together, that it will be published, and then that people will buy it. The thousands of working hours I put in traveling, researching, and writing over the three years it took to take Greyhound's story from idea to reality are now something tangible. I'm so excited to be able to share this remarkable and inspiring story with the world and introduce new generations to the legendary trotter!
        I hope you've enjoyed these blog posts and I hope you love reading Greyhound's story. It will be officially released nationwide on September 30th. However, you can pre-order signed copies HERE or you can buy one from me during one of my upcoming events (see below). 
       Keep an eye on this blog. I will continue to post about Greyhound and some of my adventures on this journey. There was a ton of information and photos that wouldn't fit in the book that will eventually be in this blog. In the mean time, Trot Fast~Fly High!

August 2023
During my time at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY, I often walked to lunch or elsewhere around the town. I first heard of the town of Goshen, New York when I read Walter Farley's "The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt," part of his famous Black Stallion series. The two books in the series dedicated to harness racing follow the life of the Black Stallion's son, Bonfire--a blood bay trotting colt. 
       In the second book (mentioned above), Bonfire races in the Hambletonian in Goshen, New York--the "Kentucky Derby" of trotters. I remember as a young girl back in 1980-something  imagining that someday I would go to Goshen and see the Hambletonian in person. Of course I had no idea then that the Hambletonian had long ago left Goshen and that the track itself had been defunct for more than a decade at that point. Regardless, like the knowledge of Greyhound, I tucked that piece of Goshen history into my memory box and marked it as "visit someday." 
       If you've been following this blog, you know I wrote about Good Time Park in a previous post (read it HERE). Good Time Park may be gone, but there is a lot of harness racing history remaining in Goshen. 

       Sometimes I surprise myself at what I don't take pictures of. In this case, I have no photo of the entrance to Historic Track. I can only guess that I a) decided I couldn't get a good picture, or b) thought I'd have a chance to get it later. Regardless, I was surprised going through my photos that I don't have an image of the entrance. I do have the above photo. As I recall this marker is located inside the main entrance. The marker below is also somewhere near the main entrance. 

If you look at old photos of Historic, it's easy to pick out the most notable feature which is still present today: the uniquely-domed judges stands:

Like I do anytime I'm visiting an area related to a person (or horse) I'm writing about, I look for the things that were there when my subject was there. At Historic Track, this is not hard to find. Looking at old photos and present day images, you can easily pick out the original buildings still standing. I think the 2023 image below is of the barn Greyhound stayed in during his 1938 visit. Do you?

In other photos of the barn, I can see there is a much taller structure behind it. I imagine this has been torn down. Or it's possible that the barn seen today is a replacement for the structure there in Greyhound's day. Because of the conflicting images, I can't definitively say the barn is the same. I can say however that the barns are in the same location. This is how research goes. Find a "fact" then find other "facts" to support it (or disprove it). 

Around Goshen
After walking around Historic for a while, I walked around Goshen. There is an impressive church near the center of town. It can be seen in old aerial photos of Good Time Park. 

This amazing fountain was dedicated in memory of Edward Harriman--I'm guessing the father of E. Roland Harriman, a man who contributed much to the sport of Harness Racing and is responsible for the formation of the U. S. Trotting Association. His history and links to the sport run deep and can hardly be covered here. He is of course mentioned in my book and you can learn a bit more about E. Roland Harriman there. When I first saw the fountain I thought it was dedicated to E. Roland, but the date on the fountain clearly reads 1911. E. Roland Harriman was still alive in Greyhound's era, some twenty-five years later.

Goshen and Historic Track are more than worth a visit, as is the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. If you can, go in July during the race meet -- I hope to do that next year. But the track, the town, and the museum are open for visiting year round. There is much more to see than I shared here. Please enjoy these additional images from my time at Historic Track:

August 15, 2023
My last day at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. What an experience this has been! I spent 8 days total in my research here, between 5 and 7 hours each day. Everyone was quite welcoming and glad to help. It's really great to have such a nice place full of so many treasures. I find myself a little jealous of the work they do. Imagine! Getting paid to spend time with all of that history and those amazing items from the colorful past of the sport of harness racing. I am glad to have paid an annual membership for the past three years to support the museum and gain access to the research library. 

Today was extra special as Rebecca let me see and touch some of the Greyhound artifacts! As I've said before, one of the things most important for me as a writer is to be in places my subject has been -- this extends to handling items that were part of his life. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it, but the connection is somehow broader and deeper--when a piece of them touches a part of you.
       Among the treasures I saw today were three of Greyhound’s blankets, a full set of shoes, and a single shoe. I was allowed to handle the objects and photograph them. So amazing to be this close to items worn by the champ. There were a few white hairs stuck to the lettering on the blankets (anyone that has handled horse blankets/coolers knows it’s impossible to get all the hair off no matter how hard you try). These little hairs were a treasure in and of themselves. Call me weird if you like but I touched each one, knowing it was as close as I’d ever be to touching the horse himself. 

The rest of the day was spent going through Greyhound’s guest book and Leone Putnam’s handwritten notes for her manuscript “Dooley and the Grey Ghost.” No real surprises in the guest book, aside from the sheer magnitude of signatures. I did see a couple sweet drawings made by little girls and a comment or two about what a wonderful horse Greyhound was to visit.
       In the same glass case holding the guestbook, there is the bridle Greyhound wore in retirement, the saddle he wore in his 1940 under saddle record, and Sep Palin's colors. The green of his jacket had turned purple over time--something that happens with green dye for some reason I'm sure a chemist could explain. But the buttons are still green. 
       

The rest of the day I spent with Leone's notes--what a beautiful treasure—small snippets of the life she and Dooley shared with Greyhound. There were a few surprises here that I hope to incorporate into the book. There were also several notes I’d love to be able to talk to her about, a few words written to jog her memory that appear as incomplete thoughts to me. Still, so amazing to look through these and I’m so very grateful for all the effort she put into her manuscript and that she saved everything. These notes are an invaluable resource. Thank you, Leone.

       So concluded my time at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. It was a lot of fun to spend time here and go through all of these treasures. I'm grateful to Janet, Rebecca, Paul, and Dillon for all their help. The harness racing sport is lucky to have them and this facility that celebrates the horses, the people, the tracks, and the history that makes our sport so great! 

August 14, 2023
Today was a pretty amazing day. I realized last week as I was looking over Greyhound’s race record that I would still be in town on this day, the 88th anniversary of his Hambletonian win. I knew Good Time Park had closed long ago, been bifurcated by an invasive road, and returned to the wild marshy land it was way back in 1926 when William H. Cane bought the land and opened the track in the first place. But I also knew that the track outline could still be seen via satellite. An idea formed in my mind ... 

Post time for the 1935 Hambletonian was 3:00 pm. Why not go and see what I could find? Rebecca Howard from the Harness Racing Museum set me up with a 1940s-era aerial image and a satellite image and told me where I could try parking (after I promised not to trespass). The Connector Road is BUSY. But in the name of research (and adventure) I parked my truck at the gas station (lower left of the satellite photo), took my life in my hands, crossed the road, and hoofed it over to the only place I thought I could identify in present day that would tell me in no uncertain terms I was standing on the infield of the former Good Time Park harness track.
       Using the GPS on my phone to mark my location, I walked until I was standing in the same area as the line through the center of the infield that is visible in both the contemporary photos and modern day satellite images. At 3:00 on the dot, I stood on the infield of what remained of Good Time Park, faced toward the stand of trees where the grandstand had once stood, and strained my ears to hear the pounding hooves whispering under the din of traffic flying past me. The road I’d originally resented had become my access point, for the road cut across the infield, just inside turns two and three. I stood on the shoulder and gazed out over the long grasses, scrubby brush and trees stunted by the marshy ground.

       Admittedly it wasn’t easy to picture the track as it looked back then. But I was there and listened for the horses. The roar of the traffic faded and the sound of pounding hooves filled my mind. I heard them coming down the back stretch, they whizzed around the far turn and stepped over the track behind me. I turned and spied a flat stretch in the grassy field, I could just see the outline of where the track had once been. 
       I continued my walk, wondering if there was more I could see. Using my GPS, I found the approximate area of the homestretch.

       One thing I search for when doing this type of research (looking for traces of something that no longer exists) is old trees. The older the tree, the more likely it is to have been there when whatever I am looking for existed. There are young trees in the old images but I couldn't find them on the infield. Knowing that the park was reclaimed marsh land and had since returned to marsh land, it is likely those young infield trees died long ago from oversaturation. I turned and looked behind me, across the road to where the stretch of track between turns two and three had been. There were older trees over there. Not sure they were old enough, still I decided I'd go take a look. 

I crossed Connector Rd. and inspected the tree. I'm just not sure. Maybe it was there, maybe not. But I found something even more interesting. It seems there was a dirt "road" of some sort here, it curved around and disappeared, but I could see the land was flatter there. Could that be the stretch between turns two and three? I went to take a closer look. Using my GPS I determined that this could perhaps be part of the track, or at least where it once was.

       OK. Full disclosure. When I crossed the road to see the tree, I looked for "No Trespassing" signs and saw none. But when I cut across the field to cross the road again, I saw one laying in the grass. Oops. 

       Later, I walked along the Orange Heritage Trail. The trains long ago silenced, slick black asphalt has taken the place of rails and ties. The trail runs along the eastern side of the old track, there is a historical marker there, but that is all. I imagine the old railroad line transported horses to and from the track. Certainly Greyhound would have taken the train after winning the Hambletonian as he headed to Springfield, Illinois for his next start. The trail veered away from the old race track, providing even poorer viewing than what I saw from the road. Still, as the people walked and biked the trail I wondered if they knew or even cared. I wanted to stop them and ask, do you know? Do you know what happened 88 years ago right here?
       Did they know that 88 years ago the grandstand stood just beyond the fence? Could they feel the thousands of people cheering in excitement as the greatest trotter that ever lived flew under the wire on silver wings? Did they know? Would they care?

        I decided to keep it to myself. I took a deep breath and gazed at the stand of trees where the grandstand once stood. I wondered if there was any trace of it left. I am so tempted to try and see, but I respect the intent of the fencing (even if there is a large hole cut in it). The land has returned to its natural state, and trespassing, no matter how tempting, is disrespectful. I sigh deeply, and continue my walk, content in the knowledge that I know what happened there, and in time, with the release of my book, so will anyone else who cares to pick it up and read of the great Greyhound.

Note: there are pictures on the internet that show images taken from the infield of decaying wood structures from the old track. To my knowledge, these have been removed in the interest of safety and prevention of trespassing.

August 10, 2023 (Thursday)
Today I dove back into Mary Lou’s boxes (there are 5 total). A real treasure trove of items. There were a ton of pictures in today’s box. Among them were probably a dozen amazing, candid shots apparently taken for LIFE Magazine. They are really just beautiful and include some amazing portraits of Greyhound and Jimmie Wingfield separately and together. I plan to contact LIFE--I’m hopeful these photos remain in their archives and that I can get permission to use some of them in the book. They are so stunning.
       I feel like I’m getting to know Greyhound better and I’m growing attached to him. A day or two ago I started stepping into his stall each morning when I arrive to say good morning and each afternoon when I depart to say good night. This afternoon I stood in his stall and again ran my fingers over the worn "cups" in the wood between each bar of his stall door. I imagined him licking and chewing at the spaces, wearing them smooth over time. I traced the lines of his teeth marks on the wall and even the window, I imagined him running his teeth along the surface, maybe pawing at the door, anxious for Dooley (his friend and caretaker) to set his food in front of him. It gives me a glimpse into his mind, a feeling for his personality. I’ve long suspected Greyhound was a very intelligent horse but this behavior tells me he certainly was a horse that needed attention, a job, something to occupy his mind. 

August 11, 2023 (Friday)
Today I continued in on some of the items from the family of Leone Putnam. These were things she saved, magazines and news clippings, photos, and letters. There were cards and letters to Greyhound from his many fans. Also many condolences on his loss. Many of the letters were from adults, recalling memories of when they’d seen Greyhound race (and yes, even the adults addressed and wrote their notes directly to Greyhound). One young girl from Holland drew a lovely picture of Greyhound and sent it to him.
       Of particular interest was the correspondence between Dooley/Leone and a journalist in Sweden. He sent articles he’d written for a Swedish publication called Expressen. He also sent hand written or typed translations of the articles. These garnered some new insight not so much about Greyhound’s life but the months following his death. Leone writes about how terribly they miss the great gelding, one can feel the sorrow and emptiness of loss in her written words. I feel privileged to read these personal notes.
        As I collect more information, my excitement grows for this book. I feel so honored to be the one who tells his story for this generation. It has been 83 years since the Great Greyhound raced.  Rebecca and I talked at length today about the impact Greyhound had on the American public in his day. It was so evident as I read letter after letter written by people whose best memory was of the Great Grey Ghost streaking around the track some thirty years before.

August 12, 2023 (Saturday)
Day six at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. It’s gone fast. Everyone has been so friendly and helpful which is awesome. Today I went through files and files of photographs. There were some I’d seen but many I had not. Some I was familiar with as they’d been used in multiple publications but I did not necessarily know when/where the picture was taken.
       One interesting tidbit are some photos from 1957 showing the marker for Greyhound’s grave already in place, along with Volo Song and Winnipeg. A quick internet search did not give me the death date for either horse although a notation on AllBreedPedigree.com mentioned that Volo Song fractured a leg in an exhibition and was euthanized. A date was not given but I imagine it was around 1944. Winnipeg’s listing did not show a death date, either. But I know from my reading that he was in retirement at Baker’s Acres in 1942 (he would have been 20). Either way, he would have also been buried by the time the 1957 photo was taken. Perhaps with Baker ailing in 1957 he wanted to ensure the marker for his beloved Greyhound was exactly as he wanted.
         The big treasure today was Leone Putnam’s hand written notes for the manuscript she was working on. Interesting tidbits of information, things that only she and Dooley would know. It was amazing to have such a personal look at Greyhound through her eyes. I’m grateful she put this work into recording as much history as she could. It is so valuable, a real treasure I’m honored to have seen. 

       Some of the notes appeared to be memory prompts--a couple words that I imagine triggered a memory for Leone to expand on later. Due to this very common technique, some information was never fully recorded and cannot be accurately deciphered as only Leone knew what those one or two word prompts meant. Still, there is a ton of information there and holding Leone's notes in my hands helps me feel closer to her, Dooley, and Greyhound.

      I looked around the museum a bit before I left--it really is an amazing place. A shorter day today for me being the weekend. Tomorrow the Museum is closed. I’ve just two more days to wrap this up.

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August 6, 2023
I arrived at place called the "Serenity Cabin" yesterday. It is in New Jersey but not far from my target location of Goshen, NY. The area is very rural, the black dirt contrasting against the green of crops and grass is striking. The cabin sits on a small piece of land tucked in along a creek at the bottom of a hillside. It is a lovely location and the price was right. It will be my home away from home for the next ten days.
       Today is my first day at the Harness Racing museum and Hall of Fame--a truly amazing place!  I had no idea there was so much here. This morning I met with Rebecca Howard, the collections curator, and we stood out on the balcony overlooking Historic Half Mile Track. There were a few horses training, going the wrong way of the track on their slower, warm up laps and then turning the right way of the track (circling left, as they would when they race) and going for speed.
       Historic Track was established in 1838 and is the oldest active trotting track in the world. It has been in continuous operation since it's founding. The land itself had been used for informal racing since the 1750s.  In 1883 a one-third mile track was built around the circus grounds. In 1873, the track was re-positioned and built in its current half-mile configuration.     

Rebecca and I chatted a long while about the past and the present, and about the differences between the Thoroughbred runners (the dark side she called it, with tongue in cheek, I think) and the harness horses. We talked about harness racing being the sport of the common man, not the aristocracy like the runners.
      After my talk with Rebecca, we went to see Greyhound’s stall. Amazing to stand in such a structure, knowing it’s history (more on this in a future post). They preserved it to look like it did when Greyhound lived in it, refinishing the wood to match what it looked like back then. But one area of wood was not refinished. The area of the door where the great gelding chewed and licked the wood is still bare, just as it was the last time the great horse touched it.
       After a quick tour of the museum, Rebecca took me upstairs to the library where I met the librarian, Paul. They set me up with a place to work and brought the first of many boxes filled with Greyhound information, pictures, articles and so much more. This would keep me busy for my first couple days.  But there was so much more!     

 August 9, 2023
Today I continued my digging into the boxes from the collection of Mary Lou Dondarski-- longtime office manager for the Hambletonian Society and huge Greyhound fan. What a tremendous amount of items she had! The history contained in these boxes centers around Greyhound but is also a look into the history of Harness Racing in Greyhound’s time.
       Mary Lou kept numerous scrapbooks filled with clippings from multiple newspapers. A real treasure trove of items to sift through. Some of the articles I'd seen but others were new to me. There were many pictures in these newspapers I had no hope of finding the rights for to use in the book. So much information is lost forever. Names and places, dates, etc. A lot of these old newspaper photos were tossed or sold in large lots, disappearing into black hole collections, never to be seen by the public again.  

Also of interest were sales catalogs from Gainesway Farm, a farm not far from where I live in Kentucky. Now Thoroughbred powerhouse (home of the incomparable Tapit), it was amazing to see that Gainesway had once operated in the Standardbred on the same enormous scale. Particularly since people don’t generally seem to know this or that the part of Kentucky now thought of as Thoroughbred country was once a hotbed of Standardbred production. 
        As I leafed through these old catalogs, mostly from the 1940s, I wondered if Gainesway had their own copies, or if they were tossed ages ago when the Thoroughbred took over the emerald Kentucky pastures of the historic farm. Miss Greyhound, a full sister to Greyhound (foaled in 1938) was featured prominently in these catalogs, along with her foals. 
       Somewhere in the early 1950s I came across the final Gainesway catalog in the collection, a total dispersal of all of their Standardbred stock. They were getting out of the harness game and, like so many other of the bluegrass farms that once raised Standardbreds, they were going to Thoroughbreds. Was Miss Greyhound sold in the dispersal? Or had she earned the place of pensioner, living out her days on the farm she’d raised many foals. It seems each discovery uncovers more questions, more mysteries to solve. Editing this work into a final book will be a challenge, there is so much to share.