Grey Lag

Grey Lag
Grey Lag winning the 1921 Brooklyn Handicap
Sire	Star Shoot
Grandsire	Isinglass
Dam	Miss Minnie
Damsire	Meddler
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1918
Country	United States
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	John E. Madden
Owner	Max Hirsch Rancocas Stable
Trainer	Max Hirsch Sam Hildreth
Record	47: 25-9-3
Earnings	$136,375
Major wins
Champagne Stakes (1920) Remsen Stakes (1920) Autumn Days Stakes (1920) Islip Handicap (1920) Belmont Stakes (1921) Dwyer Stakes (1921) Empire Derby (1921) Knickerbocker Handicap (1921) Devonshire International Handicap (1921) Mount Kisco Stakes (1921) Brooklyn Handicap (1921) Empire City Handicap (1922) Queens County Handicap (1922) Saratoga Handicap (1922) Excelsior Handicap (1923) Metropolitan Handicap (1923)
Awards
Unofficial U.S. Champion Three-Year-Old Colt (1921) Unofficial United States Horse of the Year (1921)
Honours
United States' Racing Hall of Fame (1957) #54 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century Grey Lag Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack
Last updated on October 14, 2006

Grey Lag (1918–1942) was a Thoroughbred race horse born in Kentucky and bred by John E. Madden. At his Hamburg Place near Lexington, Kentucky, Maddon had a good stallion called Star Shoot which he bred to all of his mares. Out of a failed racemare called Miss Minnie who had produced no previous winners, he got Grey Lag. In his later days, Maddon said Grey Lag was the best horse he ever bred.

Sired by Star Shoot (going back to and Beeswing, out of Miss Minnie (by Meddler), Grey Lag wasn not a grey. He was a chestnut with a few small grey patches on his belly, hidden when he was saddled. With three white feet and a large white blaze, Grey Lag was a minimal Sabino. (A Sabino is inherited and can be as dominant as pinto markings, or as minimal as a white spot on the chin, a small sock with jagged edges, or a few belly spots. Sabinos are capable of producing wildly colored off-spring.)

Grey Lag (whose name came from a type of wild European goose) stood 16 and a half hands tall when he was sold as a yearling to Hall of Fame trainer Max Hirsch. He remained a maiden until his fifth start. Hirsch raced him until he won the Champagne Stakes for two-year-olds, then sold him to Harry F. Sinclair of Sinclair Oil (famous for his close connection to the 29th President of the United States, Warren G. Harding, and involved in the infamous Teapot Dome scandal). Sinclair took enormous pleasure in his recently purchased no-expense-spared Rancocas Stable in New Jersey while buying every horse that took his fancy. The trainer, Hall of Famer Sam Hildreth, not as well-heeled as Sinclair nor as happy about the horse—a superstitious man, he hated the grey patches—nevertheless remained in the partnership. They paid $60,000 for the two-year-old once he won the Champagne. (Hirsch added $20,000 to his price because Hildreth had earlier snubbed Grey Lag and his grey patch.)