NEWS
Funeral services set for Baird
Posted: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 2:11 PM
DALE BAIRD
Shigeki Kikkawa photo
by Ed DeRosa
Funeral services and visitation have been set for trainer Dale Baird, who was killed on Sunday in an automobile accident in Indiana.
Visitation will be held on Friday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. CST at Greenwell Funeral Home located at 30 North Washington Street in Martinsville, Illinois. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. on Saturday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Baird Cemetery, south of Martinsville.
Details have not yet been finalized for a memorial service in West Virginia in January.
Baird, who saddled the winners of 9,445 races and won a Special Eclipse Award in 2005, died on Sunday in Greenfield, Indiana, after his sport utility vehicle, pulling an empty horse trailer, went left of center and collided with oncoming traffic.
Two other people died at the scene. Baird’s passenger, Shelby Bartholomew, was treated at an Indianapolis hospital.
Baird, 72, was based at Mountaineer Race Track, where he owned many of the horses he trained. A native of Illinois, he won his first race as a trainer in summer 1961 with a horse named New York.
His family also is involved in the Thoroughbred industry, with his father, brother, son, and nephew all training professionally.
Baird was the first trainer to win 7,000, 8,000, and 9,000 races, and every race won added to his all-time record. Jack Van Berg ranks second among trainers by career wins with 6,378—2,067 fewer than Baird.
In addition to his lifetime achievement, Baird holds the distinction of being the first trainer to win more than 300 races in a single season—a plateau he eventually achieved eight times. He led the nation by wins among trainers 15 times and wins by an owner 17 times.
Baird never won a graded stakes race, and each of his eight stakes wins came at Mountaineer. He ranked 23rd by number of wins this season with 132 from 1,159 starters.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to the American Cancer Society or to a church or charity of choice.
Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times
