Dale Baird (April 17, 1935 – December 23, 2007) was an American

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

trainer who also won the most races in that sport.

Career

Born in

Martinsville, Illinois Martinsville is a city in Clark County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,118 at the 2020 census. Geography Martinsville is located at (39.338369, -87.881940). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Martinsville has a total ...

, Baird was brought up in the horse racing industry by his father, John I. Baird, who was also a successful horseman. He began his career as a jockey riding on local fair circuits, and turned to training after he grew too big to continue as a jockey. He made his training debut in 1961 at

Ellis Park Racecourse Ellis Park is a thoroughbred racetrack near Henderson, Kentucky, just south of Evansville, Indiana. It is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Incorporated. While the track is located north of the Ohio River that forms the border between Kentuc ...

Henderson, Kentucky Henderson is a home rule-class city along the Ohio River and is the county seat of Henderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,757 at the 2010 U.S. census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area, locally known as the ...

, and won his first race with a horse named New York. He soon established himself at Waterford Park (now Mountaineer Racetrack) in

Chester, West Virginia Chester is a city in northern Hancock County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. Sharing a border with Ohio and lying about west of Pennsylvania, Chester is the northernmost city i ...

, where he won every meet training title for 20 consecutive years between 1981 and 2000. Baird-trained horses amassed 9,445 victories over his 46-year career. The majority of his wins came at Mountaineer, and he owned nearly all of the horses that he trained. He was the nation's leading trainer, by wins 15 times between 1971 and 1999, and the leading owner 17 times. Baird was the first trainer to win 300 races in three consecutive years. In 2004, he recorded his 9,000th career training victory and was the first trainer in racing history to reach that plateau. He was honoured with a Special Eclipse Award by the

National Thoroughbred Racing Association The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) is a broad-based coalition of American horse racing interests consisting of leading thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with incr ...

(NTRA) in 2005, highlighting the milestone and his whole career.

Family Involvement

Dale's son, Bart, and brother John, also train horses at Mountaineer. John's son, Mike Baird, is also a Mountaineer conditioner.

Death

On December 23, 2007, Baird died in a car crash that killed two other people. It was believed that high winds caused the empty horse trailer that he was hauling to tip over, causing Baird to lose control of his pick-up truck. He was in the midst of another successful year, having saddled 132 winners and collecting purses totalling $2,030,982 in 2007..
"Wind may have been factor in crash that killed 3 - Greenfield Daily Reporter, December 24, 2007"
..

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Dale 1935 births 2007 deaths People from Chester, West Virginia People from Clark County, Illinois American horse trainers American Champion racehorse trainers Eclipse Award winners Road incident deaths in Indiana