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Baird, racing's all-time winningest trainer, killed in car
accident
Dale Baird, Thoroughbred racing's all-time winningest trainer with 9,445
wins, was killed in a car accident in Indiana on Sunday afternoon. A dominant
force in West Virginia racing for the last four decades, Baird was 72.
According to the Greenfield, Indiana, Daily Reporter, Baird was
driving westbound on Interstate 70 when he lost control of his vehicle, which was hauling an empty horse trailer. He crossed the median into
eastbound traffic and struck an oncoming vehicle, killing Baird and the two
teenagers in the other vehicle instantly. Baird's passenger, Shelby Bartholomew,
survived.
In a chain reaction, two more vehicles
subsequently crashed, and another swerved into the median, but their occupants
did not sustain serious injuries. Police investigators surmise that high winds
may have been a factor in the accident.
Ironically, Baird's name had been very much in the news on Saturday evening,
when Jerry Hollendorfer became the fourth trainer in history to earn 5,000
career victories.
Born in 1935 in Martinsville, Illinois, Baird followed in the footsteps of
his father, the late trainer John J. Baird. After starting out as a jockey on
the country fair circuit, he served in the United States Army for two years and
then turned to training full time in 1960. He saddled his first winner at Ellis
Park in 1961.
Several years later, Baird transferred his base to Waterford Park, now
Mountaineer Park, in Chester, West Virginia, where he was dubbed the "Wizard of
Waterford" as he began to rewrite the record books. His many training feats
included leading the nation in wins 15 times between 1971 to 1999; becoming the
first trainer to win 300 races in a year, when he won 305 in 1973; and becoming
the first trainer to win 300 races in three consecutive years, which he did from
1979-1981. He also won the training title at Mountaineer 20 consecutive years
until the streak was broken in 2001.
Baird reached the unprecedented 9,000-win milestone on November 5, 2004, when
Frazee's Folly captured the 8TH race at Mountaineer. His closest pursuers on the
all-time trainers' list are Jack Van Berg (6,378) and King T. Leatherbury
(6,227).
In recognition of his extraordinary success, Baird was honored with a Special
Eclipse Award in January 2005. Although he has yet to be voted into the National
Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the National Horsemen's
Benevolent and Protective Association Hall of Fame in 2001.
Several of Baird's close relatives are also horsemen -- his son Bart,
brothers Dean and John, and nephew Mike.
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