The Vicious Superstar
by Lisa Harkema
The only horse in history to set world records at 1, 2, 3 and 4 before eventually becoming one of the great stallions in history, Peter Volo was a champion both on and off the track. He was not a friendly horse, though, and had a terrible temperament. Though considered one of the pillars of harness racing history, Peter Volo was on track to be forgotten as a stallion given his poor production. One man, however, refused to give up how in the foul-tempered stallion and persisted in his efforts to buy him – a purchase which would change history.
Peter Volo first caught the public’s attention on Aug 16, 1912, when he set a new yearling world record, trotting in 2:19 (1.26,4) at the Blue Grass Fair, occasionally referred to as a “colored fair”, in Lexington. This record would later that year be lowered to 2:15 3/4 (1.24,4) by Airdale, a record that still stands since this was the last year world records by yearlings was recognized. In March 1912 breeder and owner William Earl Dodge (WED) Stokes had sent a consignment of yearlings, including Peter Volo, to a Chicago auction . The “owner’s statement” included the claim that he was the fastest yearling in the world and a future champion. Naturally, owner’s statements are to be taken with a grain of salt but it indicated Stokes’ belief in the trotter. Stokes supposedly had no intention of actually selling Peter Volo in that auction, instead the colt was merely put in as an attraction for the rest of the consignment. When offered he was bid in and returned home to the Patchen Wilkes farm.
Trained by Ed Willis, the superintendent who ran Patchen Wilkes, he was not started as a yearling until he considered Peter Volo ready to beat the existing yearling record of 2:19 1/4 (1.26,6) set by his sister Miss Stokes three years earlier. Trotting the first quarter in 35 and the next in 34, he was pushed further in the third heat which was trotted in 33 1/2 but faded in the fourth quarter, completing it in 37 1/2 for a total time of 2:19 flat (1.26,4). In January Stokes sent the colt to trainer Thomas Murphy in Poughkeepsie. Just a few years earlier, Murphy campaigned the filly Native Belle, world record holder for two-year-olds with 2:07 3/4 (1.19,4) set when she won the Junior Kentucky Futurity.