Downing – Greyhound Racing’s Greatest Star

In greyhound racing circles, almost thirty years later, the name of Downing evokes memories of unparalleled greatness. Downing, who was the dog who ran in the toughest stakes race of his era with just two official starts under his belt. Downing, who won major stakes races at three different distances. Downing, who reduced the next best dog of his time into an afterthought. And Downing, who would become a huge presence in the world of breeding champions.

Downing was born in March of 1975, out of Big Whizzer and Hookers Flower. He began his racing career at Hollywood, one of Florida’s premier dog tracks located in Miami. After winning his Maiden race and a grade D contest, Downing was entered into the $115,000 Hollywood World Classic, at the time the “Super Bowl” of the greyhound world. Downing going into this race with so little experience would be the equivalent of a high school pitcher coming in to pitch the seventh game of the World Series, but Downing was unfazed by the steep competition. The World Classic was a laborious affair, with nine separate rounds of eliminations before the finals. Downing won his first round heat in a mercurial 30.41 seconds clocking, and never looked back from there. Downing won eight of the nine rounds, paying as low as thirty cents on the dollar at the betting windows. In the final, Downing breezed to victory over a tough field that never really was running for anything but second place, as it turned out.

After this spectacular debut, Downing turned his sights on the rest of the stakes race schedule. Downing captured the Hollywood Futurity, another race run over the five-sixteenths mile course. Downing won 16 of his 20 Hollywood starts in 1977 to be named the track wins champion. Then it was on to Biscayne, where Downing took the Irish-American crown, running over a distance that was several yards longer than his familiar five-sixteenths. After that, he traveled to Boston, where he annexed the Wonderland Battle of the Ages title.

But Downing was not finished with his winning ways on the big stage, as he would journey to Taunton, in Massachusetts, where Downing would now attempt to run an even longer course, the 1,980 foot three-eighths distance in the American Derby. This race was to dog racing what the Masters is to golf, and Downing made like Tiger Woods, going undefeated through the eliminations and winning the American Derby. He made chumps out of such stars as P. L. Greer, Malka, Sultry Sister, and Blazing Red, sprinting to the front every time and holding on easily to win.

Downing’s racing style was that simple. He would fly to the front of the pack and nobody could catch him. Downing did not even chase the stuffed rabbit that was suspended off the lure arm; he was chasing the wheels of the lure! The other great sprinter of Downing’s day was Rooster Cogburn. A best-of-three match race series was set up between these two seventy-five pound, red brindle superstars, but Downing won both head to head tilts and the third was rendered unnecessary. Downing had become to greyhound racing what Secretariat had become to horse racing a few years earlier.

South Dakota had a tiny greyhound track in Sodrac, and the track management issued a challenge to Downing to take on its own track champion. Incredibly, Downing’s handlers were glad to take the gauntlet, and Downing went there and not only won the race over the five-sixteenths distance, he shattered the existing track record. Injuries caused Downing to retire early, but the year he had in 1977 has never been duplicated. Downing became a leading sire, with his offspring at the top of the win standings throughout the 1980s.

Downing passed away at the age of nine, on March 15th, 1984. Downing was the youngest dog ever elected to the Greyhound Hall of Fame, a month later in April. His name is still one of the most recognized in the sport, a greyhound who dominated all comers at all distances, and a dog whose legend will never die.