The Grey Super Stallion
by Lisa Harkema
He is often thought of as a backwater stallion who fluked one great son despite being a lame horse not good enough to race. However, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to Pilot Medium, who was one of the best American sires toward the end of the 19th century.
While many good stallions have a distinguished racing career, Pilot Medium never even started a single race. Though he is now often referred to as a lame and crippled horse, the horse was initially sound but damaged his hip badly as a youngster. From The Saint Paul Globe on Oct 1, 1888, “The undeveloped grey stallion, Pilot Medium, owned by Walter Clark, of Battle Creek, Mich., is coming into prominence as a sire through the creditable performances and records of his get (…) He was bred and raised by Alex Davidson, of Williamsport, Pa., and, after he had injured himself by jumping over a fence as a youngster, he was sold to Mr. Clark for $175. He was sired by by Happy Medium, and his dam was the famous of trotting mare Tackey, by Pilot Jr, the dam of Naiad Queen 2:20 1/4 (1.27,2), Pilot Boy 2:20 (1.27) and Class Leader 2:22 1/2 (1.28,6). Mr. Clark has got a bonanza, at a small price, in Pilot Medium.” While the stallion could be characterized as cheap by virtue of his purchase price, but at 10 the stallion was “earning about $5,000 a year for his owner”, and in 1889 the stud fee was set at $200.
In fact, Clark later revealed the horse earned him $10-12,000 per year, thus indicating Pilot Medium had 50-60 foals yearly at that point. It indicated a quick rise to prominence for the stallion who started from scratch, only getting the chance with Clark’s own mares plus a few others. Pilot Medium, however, won over breeders by producing very well from the beginning. In an article in The Saint Paul Globe on Apr 2, 1888, it said that “Pilot Medium is but eight years old, and has to his credit more than nine winners, among them two four-year-olds, with records better than 2:30 (1.33,2); another four-year-old has a record of 2:34 1/2 (1.36), but has shown in races his ability to trot in 2:25 (1.30,1).