sleepy tom
Year of Birth:
1866
Immortal:
Yes
Elected as Immortal:
1992
Year of Death:
1886
Gait:
Pacer
Record:
p,2:12 1/4
Sire:
Tom Rolfe
Biography:
"The pacing wonder" of the late 1870s, this saddle-bred horse, whose sire Tom Rolfe was a son of the world champion free-legged pacer Pocahontas, did perhaps more than any other harness horse to popularize the pacing gait. Sleepy Tom was one of the famed barnstorming quartet that included Mattie Hunter, Lucy and Rowdy Boy - the "Big Four" that was a major attraction during the late 1870s on the Grand Circuit. Sleepy Tom went blind at the age of seven, but scored many of his notable successes following his blindness, including his two world records in 1879. He died in a barn fire in Indiana in 1886.
Published in the Harness Racing Museum's 1994 book, The Immortals