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 broodmares from Ohio, Quebec. etc. that Collins L. Wood had for sale. This exuberant horse— man loved to deal. Nobody knows how many he brought this direction. Each transaction involved a deal and many are the stories that could be told about “deal- ing" with this Stratford resident from the Mason Road. In his own words, “I'm a dealer and 1 love to deal."

November Of 2008 will mark 68 years of involvement in the standardbred industry. It all started when he bought a mare called May Win for 814 from dealer. Mike Welsh. She was the first mare to pace a half—mile in ()0 seconds around the then Kensington racing oval. At this early stage in his life. Collins’ dealing began because after one day he traded May Win to Harry Keaton. May Win had seven colts, all by Abner T (ch11J and all of them, including Mr. McGee and Dominion D, made the races.

Collins Wood had raced more horses than he could remember but some of them he would never forget. One of the most popular race horses with the fans at the

GDP. was fM. Buddy. Collins sold this beautiful chestnut to one of his best friends. Walter Kelly. Single CC. was a game old horse that raced around 2:09. Toby was a trotter that Alan Smith han— dled for Collins. Toby fell one short of winning the most dashes in one year in the U. S. T. A. for this Island connection. CL. ’5 Surprise. a homebred, set the C.D.P. record of 1:38 for fillies with Clare MacDonald handling the reins. The late Don MacNeill had Boomz‘ouvz for this Stratford resident for a few seasons.

Collins remembered Sing/e C. C. as an old horse that was game. He and Don MacNeill bought him at Garden City. This horse held a record of 2:07 but liked 2:10 much better. He was a lovely horse who once held the track record of 2:10 at Pinette Raceway. This fellow was prone to making breaks until a shoeing change by Stanley White enabled him to defeat WMX. and others en route to a new track record of 2:10 one sunny Saturday for owner/driver Collins Wood. He gave credit to Stanley White, blacksmith, who was ‘a great fellow with a horse‘.

There were many enjoyable aspects to

the horse game but what Collins enjoyed most was the dealing of horses. Over the

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