Palin, Septer F.
Harness Racing
b. 1878, Iroquois, IL
d. Oct 3, 1952
Palin trained and drove harness horses at small tracks in the Midwest for years. He became suddenly famous at the age of fifty-six as the trainer of Greyhound, one of the greatest harness horses ever.
In 1933, owner E. J. Baker asked Palin to take over Greyhound, then a yearling. The following year, Palin drove Greyhound to a 2:04 3/4 in the mile, a record for 2-year-old geldings. Greyhound won the 1935 Hambletonian in two heats, running a 2:02 1/4 and 2:02 3/4. Later that year, he did the mile in an even 2:00 at Springfield, IL, and in 1937 Greyhound broke the track record at Goshen with a time of 1:59 3/4. That record stood until 1966.
Before being retired in 1940, Greyhound had won 72 of 82 heats, had trotted twenty-three miles in times of 2 minutes or better, and had earned $38,952.79, which was very high for that time. His fastest time was a world record 1:55 1/2 at Lexington in 1938.
Palin trained the first two horses to win harness horse of the year honors, Victory Song in 1947 and Hoot Mon in 1948. Victory Song won the 1947 Kentucky Futurity with Palin driving. Hoot Mon, who won the 1947 Hambletonian, set a record for stallions by pacing a mile in 1:57 3/5 at Springfield that year.
Palin suffered a stroke during a meeting at Lexington, Kentucky, in October of 1952 and banged his head on a concrete walk. He went into a coma and never recovered. At his death, he held the career record for most 2-minute performances with 67.