Oklahoman

Breeders have come to appreciate you more and more with each passing generation, Oklahoman, as one of the greatest sires in American history. But your contribution to the breed might never have come to pass were it not for a particular, momentous racetrack achievement.

That event occurred in 1949, the year Joe Linsey initiated the first big-purse stake race in the sport. Your victory in that $25,000 American Derby not only launched the new trend of big-stake racing, but also provided you with a stepping-stone to stardom as a sire.

You were rated a good stakes dog in your day, but not a great one until that historic American Derby of 1949. Among your other conquests were the 1948 Gold Collar and the 1949 Inaugural at Miami Beach. You finished second in the 1948 Memorial Day Trophy Race at Wonderland, to no less a greyhound than fellow Hall of Famer Lucky Pilot.

Whelped appropriately in Oklahoma, you were the descendant of many other Hall of Famers: Lucky Roll, Just Andrew, Imp. My Laddie, Kitty Dunn, Traffic Officer,

Mutton Cutlet–so it was no surprise that you made a name for yourself in the breeding world. Some of the more classic female producers in history were _your daughters–Je Nay, Wild Nancy, Mandy Jo, However, Comply, Ada Jane and Run Best. From these you descend to many of the greats of the sport during the last 25 years.

Two of your sons, Best Way and Mickey’s Award, left additional contributions. Even in Ireland, your name prospers through grandson Rocket Ship and his posterity, including another Hall Of Famer, Rocking Ship, Imp. “Dog Of The Decade” Downing is still another of the thousands of your great descendants, and one of at least six from your posterity who’ve won the same stake that started it all for you, the American Derby (through 1979).

Though you were a sire in the ‘5Os, already most of the greyhounds of today can boast of you as an ancestor. Almost all the great ones can make that claim.

The qualities you stamped into your offspring–aggressiveness, determination as well as speed–have helped make the American greyhound what it is today