Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Sep Palin

"Sep" Palin was born in 1878 in Iroquois County, Illinois--just south and west of Milford, to August and Nancy Holland Palin.

One of 9 children, Sep and his family spent only a short time in the county before going to Indiana. Sep's ancestors were Quakers coming from the Pasquotank Co. area of North Carolina to Henry, Wayne and finally Fountain Co. Indiana.

Sep Palin & Greyhound

Sep's early career began on the small tracks in Indiana where harness racing was the common sport of the time; races sometimes developing on back country roads for the pure pleasure of the sport. At the time Sep began, harness horses that could race a mile in 2:05 where rare and anything faster was beyond belief.

In his career as trainer/driver, Sep sat behind 67 horses that broke the 2:05 mark with Greyhound the fastest in 1:55.25. The list of big name races Sep participated in with a record setting horse reads like the who's who of harness racing: The Hambletonian, The Kentucky Futurity, The Transylvania, The Walnut Hall Cup - the list is long.

While his accomplishments with the champion Greyhound, 1:55¼ brought him International fame, he also proved himself as a developer of speed. He went to train for E. J. Baker and won The Hambletonian with Hoot Mon and Greyhound, The Kentucky Futurity with Victory Song, as well as many Grand Circuit stakes throughout his career. For years he led the list of drivers of two-minute horses.

In October 1952, Sep was at The Lexington Trots, in Kentucky, when he suffered a stroke at the time trials and fell backward, hitting his head on the concrete walk, causing a severe concussion from which he never recovered.