F Q1 ‘ ." 4'

Cbllins Wood A Real Dealer

here was a day in the not too dis~

tant past. when Atlantic horsemen

waited impatiently to examine the truck-load of race horses and hroodmares from Ohio. Quebec. etc. that (Iollins 1.. \\'ood had for sale. This exuberant horse- man loyed to deal. .\'ohody knows how many he lirought this direction. liach transaction in\‘ol\'ed a deal and many are the stories that could he told about "deal— ing" with this Stratiord resident from the Mason Road. In his own words. “I'm a dealer and l loye to deal."

\oyemlier ol 3()()8 will mark ()8 years ol

inyolyement in the standardlrred industry. [1 all started when he hought a mare called .1lu_)' iii/1 lor 81 t lrom dealer. Mike \\'elsh. She was the first mare to pace :1 hall—mile in (it) seconds around the then lx'ensington racing oyal. At this early stage in his lil‘e. (Iollins‘ dealing hegan because alter one day he traded .llut “.1.”

to Harry lx'eaton. .llzti' \l'i'H had seyen

colts. all by Album 'I' (fleet! and all of

them. including .111: tiIcGee and

Dori/[Hint] I). made the races.

(Iollins \\’<><)tl had raced more horses than he could remeinher hut some of them he would neyer lorget. ()ne of the most

popular race horses with the lans at the

:. v.‘

(2.1).l’, was/”ll. [flu/(lat (Iollins sold this heautilul chestnut to one ol‘ his hest l‘riends. \\"alter Kelly. Sing/e (LC, was a game old horse that raced around 2:09. ’/'()/)_i' was a trotter that Alan Smith han— dled for Collins. 'l'o/gi' tell one short of winning the most dashes in one year in the 1’. S. T. :\. lor this island connection. (,’.l.. ’.\‘ Smym'se. a homehred. set the (1.1),1). record ol 158 lor l‘illies with (Ilare .\lacl)onald handling the reins, The late Don .\lac.\'eill had Boom/own for this

Stratlord resident lor a tew seasons.

(Iollins remembered stare/0010'. as an old horse that was game. He and Don MacNeill hought him at (iarden (Iity. ’l'his horse held a record ol' 3:0" hut liked 3: It) much hetter. He was a loyely horse who once held the track record ol‘ 2: It) at l’inette Raceway. ’l'his fellow was prone to making hreaks until a shoeing change hy Stanley \\"hite enahled him to defeat \l”..il,.\'. and others en route to a new track record ol 2:10 one sunny Saturday for owner driyer (Iollins \Vood. He gaye credit to Stanley \\'hite. hlacksmith. who was ‘a great fellow with a horse‘.

'l'here were many enioyahle aspects to

the horse game hut what (Iollins enjoyed

most was the dealing of horses. ()yer the

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