On The Line

When it came to stake events, no greyhound put it on the line like On The Line. “He’d win eliminations in major derbies by seven lightposts–not lengths,” owner Aaron Kulchinsky once said.

Few greyhounds ever dominated a year of Greyhound racing in this country as you did in 1952. You’re still the only greyhound to ever win the  Massachusetts Triple Crown-the $25,000 Raynham Derby, the $50,000 Wonderland Derby and the $25,000 American Derby and you did it all in a single year. Besides that, you also captured the 1952 Hollywood Open and all three legs of the National Championship Series (at 5/16ths, 3/8ths and 7/16ths). You were U.S. win co-champ that year with a 23-3-3 mark in 36 starts, including 9 wins in·11 starts at Wonderland.

Clearly you were the best greyhound of your time, and The Greyhound Writers of America overwhelmingly voted you Greyhound of the Year in 1952. You ran by good dogs “like they were tired,” Kulchinsky recalls.

Your stud career was also marked with success, and among your many great offspring was Wonderland queen Honey Line. Not only did you win all three of Massachusetts’s major derbies, but already five of your descendants have wound up in the winner’s circle of those same stakes.

Through Kathi Award and other female lines, your name remains a dominant influence in the breeding trends of today.