The Born to Run. Ryan Reed
| Andrew DePrisco, June Kikuchi | EDITORIAL DIRECTORS |
| Amy Deputato | SENIOR EDITOR |
| Jarelle S. Stein | EDITOR |
| Jennifer Calvert | ASSOCIATE EDITOR |
| Elizabeth Spurbeck | ASSISTANT EDITOR |
| Véronique Bos | SENIOR ART DIRECTOR |
| Karen Julian | PUBLISHING COORDINATOR |
| Tracy Burns | PRODUCTION COORDINATOR |
| Jessica Jaensch | PRODUCTION COORDINATOR |
Photographs © 2010 by Ryan H. Reed
Copyright © 2010 by I-5 Press™
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of I-5 Press™, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
I-5 Press™
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reed, Ryan H., 1968-
Born to run : the racing greyhound from competitor to companion / by
Ryan H. Reed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59378-689-2
eISBN: 978-1-62008-052-8
1. Racing greyhound. 2. Greyhound racing. I. Title.
SF429.G8R425 2010
798.8'5--dc22
2009050555
Printed and bound in China
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Contents
Chapter 4: Kansan Kaleidoscope
Chapter 7: Rocky Mountain Mosaic
Chapter 8: Northwest Tradition
Dedication
For my sweet Toolie.
My lucky star fell the day you came to me. We did everything together, and how I adored you. Now, all these years later, if I could tell you just one thing, it would be that my chest became a vacuum the day you left.
May 23, 1986 – January 5, 2000
Acknowledgments
Like most large-scale research projects, this book could not have been realized without the continued support of many friends and backers. Janice Mosher, an adoption volunteer with Greyhound Pets, Incorporated, and a close personal friend, helped in countless ways throughout the entire effort. Gary Guccione, executive director for the National Greyhound Association, made arrangements for me to visit breeding farms near Abilene, Kansas; explained the history of the sport; and assisted in a great many other ways, too numerous to list here. At the Greyhound Hall of Fame, Ed Scheele and Kathy Lounsbury helped supply historical information.
The lion’s share of statistical background information for individual Greyhounds was provided by Greyhound-Data.com, a free Web site with information—including race history—compiled by teams of aficionados from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States. Without the Greyhound-Data Web site and the hard work put into its database by tireless volunteers, it would not have been possible to provide such detailed information about the racing and retired Greyhounds portrayed in this book.
In August 2002, I had the great fortune to be befriended by Vera Filipelli, the director of media relations at Derby Lane racetrack in St. Petersburg, Florida. She and her husband, John, made a trip to Derby Lane feasible for me by insisting that I stay at their home for a week to offset some of the costs. Afterward, Vera continued to help in more ways than I can enumerate here. Simply put, without Vera’s unwavering support and friendship, this book would have been much smaller in scope and size; in fact, it might not have been completed at all.
With Vera’s help, I got in touch with the Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association (RIGOA), which generously awarded me a grant that allowed for a trip to Lincoln Park. While I was photographing matinee races at the racetrack, my camera body suffered a catastrophic failure, putting a halt to any further photography. In a near panic, I called RIGOA president Richard Brindle and vice president Dan Ryan, who immediately offered to pay for a new camera body. They are two of the most benevolent men I have ever met.
Later, in December 2005, I received yet another generous grant for my work, this one from the Texas Greyhound Association (TGA). While in the famed Lone Star State, I had the opportunity to document the TGA-owned schooling