Domino (horse)

At the age of two, he won the Great Eclipse Stakes, the Great American Stakes, the Great Trial Stakes, the Hyde Park Stakes, the Matron Stakes and the Produce Stakes, and dead-heated for the win in the Futurity Stakes.

The Futurity Stakes marked the beginning of Domino's hatred for Taral.[3] During the running, Domino's stablemate fell, and Domino, trying to avoid him, nearly went down as well. Taral whipped Domino mercilessly as a result, and then, when a colt named Dobbins challenged him, Taral went for the whip again. A newspaper article, while dramatic, described the race as follows:

"Once, twice, thrice, the lash descended on Domino's quivering flanks, but still Dobbins crept nearer and nearer...A furlong from home Dobbins' muzzle showed ahead. Taral shifted his whip from his right to his left hand and played a tattoo on Domino's ribs that could be heard half a mile away. His heels were busy, and Domino's sides ran blood...The game colt that had never known defeat, struggled on, and 100 yards from the finish there was not a man alive capable of predicting the winner."

By now, people called him "The Black Whirlwind." About this time heats no longer dominated horse races in America (they'd fallen out of favor in England decades earlier), and speed was becoming a premium. Domino was considered the fastest sprinter of his time.[4]

In his first start at age three in the Withers Stakes, Domino defeated the Belmont Stakes champion Henry of Navarre, and went on to win five of the next seven races he entered including a dead heat in a match race with arch rival Henry of Navarre. As such, they met again three weeks later in a race to determine the 1894 championship. For this event, the 4-year-old Clifford joined the two younger colts. This time, Henry of Navarre won by 3/4's of a length, earning Horse of the Year honors.[5]

At three, besides the Withers, he won the Flying Stakes (carrying 130 pounds and setting a new track record), the Culver Stakes, the Ocean Handicap, and the Third Special.

Raced as a four-year-old, Domino won four of eight races: the Coney Island Handicap, the Sheepshead Bay Handicap, and came in 2nd in the Coney Island Fall Handicap carrying 133 lb., conceding 24 lb to the winner.

Slightly unsound, and always raced in bandages, in his 25 starts, Domino won 19, placed in 2, and came third in one. His life career earnings amounted to $193,550.

Eventually refusing to train due to a bad foot, at the end of the 1895 season, he was retired to Castleton Stud.