Greyhound Racing

Everyone at bestbet Orange Park wants to wish best of luck to our two 660 yard monsters, Snj Black Porter and Gs Cosmo as they head south to Mardi Gras for the 2013 American Derby.

The action starts on March 11th in the first round and both of these guys should have a good shot at sticking around for a while.

The final eight Greyhounds have been determined for Saturday afternoon’s 82ndrunning of Palm Beach Kennel Club’s $50,000 James W. Paul 3/8ths Mile Derby, one of the nation’s longest-running stake events.

Scoring three qualifying wins and a fifth-place finish, North Shore Kennel’s WWK Paylessshoes is the leading point earner and will get first choice at the all-important post positions.

National Greyhound Association

Heading into the finals of any stakes race as the leader in points can be a curse or a blessing. We all have seen several times where the best greyhound in the field just couldn’t get it done in the finals, and we have also seen where the leader rises to the occasion and dominates for the win. 

Derby Lane is the most established track in the world and celebrated the new season with the staple St. Petersburg Inaugural. The 88th running of North America’s longest running stakes was held January 5. Both on and off-track fans were hosted and witnessed the elite eight vying for the coveted title. Five males and three females made up the event that saw Floyd & Porter kennel’s Lily Rose (Kiowa Sweet Trey x Miss Merle) hold off late pressure to win by a neck. 

Eddie McDonald never imagined that a west Texas drive with his wife Rhonda to visit his grandson nearly two years ago would point them in the direction of the winner’s circle of the 2012 Holiday Challenge at Derby Lane. 

Alex Hall may be young, but the 19 year-old trainer and kennel manager for Red Oak Racing, LLC at Derby Lane is well schooled in kennel management. He has kept the kennel competitive since being handed the “leads” from kennel owner Robert Lambert of Alabama. 

It was pretty much known the last month or two that Florida speedster J’s Robin (initially at Jacksonville, racing at Naples late in the year) of the D.Q. Williams Kennel was destined to be the North American win championship for 2012. No one seriously challenged the daughter of Lonesome Cry-Boy Trouble, who wound up with 47 victories for the year. 

Derby Lane’s top dog for 2012 and this year’s current win leader and season’s fastest Venus Espinosa won his first title race of the year. The 9th annual Rotary Governor’s Feature was held Saturday February 9. The impressive field included Lily Rose that was seeking her third title race this year. The Floyd & Porter beauty stormed the year by winning the Inaugural and the Matinee Idol. Also in the field was the defending champion Call Me Ishmael (D’Arcy) that won last year’s Rotary event.

Round three qualifying action for the 82ndrunning of Palm Beach Kennel Club’s $50,000 James W. Paul Three-Eighths Mile Derby takes place Wednesday afternoon, February 13

Needing to cut costs in the face of formidable competition from new facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack is reducing its number of greyhound races.

The 38th annual Sprint Classic series held over the 550-yard course begins Saturday night February 16 at Derby Lane.

For the second straight year, the Wayne Ward Kennel dominated the kennel standings at Wheeling Island. 

Although the Ron Otto-trained kennel didn’t match their record 621 wins the year before, the back-to-back champs finished 2012 with 582 victories to easily outdistance Clear The Way Kennel. CTW Kennel, runnerup for the second straight season, posted 471 wins. 

Following introductions, track announcer Mike Jameson closed with, “May the best greyhound win.” 

And he did. 

Rader Racing Kennel’s O Ya Billy Bob proved to all in attendance that he is the fastest greyhound at the track,as the youngster handily won the 15th running of Palm Beach Kennel Club’s $20,000 Dick Andrews Futurity Wednesday afternoon, December 26. 

Fourteen kennels represented. Twentythree individual greyhounds entered. $230,000 in added purse money was on the line. There are many similarities to the second event of the RLC Million Dollar Series held at Southland Park Gaming & Racing over the holidays. The one major change was the course. This version would be held on the 660-yard Razorback Course. 

Garnet Crowe has touched nearly a hundred stake winners over the last few years. 

Although she hasn’t trained the champions, her work is on display in the winner’s circle at several racetracks. 

Crowe crafts the blankets for the stake champions - a prized possession for greyhound owners and trainers. Currently, Crowe designs and sews the championship blankets for Wheeling, Southland, Tristate and, on occasion, at the Gulf. 

Their paths have been similar. So has their success. 

After racing at the 2012 National Greyhound Association Spring Meet in Kansas, Kebo Greta Garbo and KB’s Mr. Kramer broke in at Wheeling in July. Now both are making noise against Grade AA company. 

Sponsored by the Texas Greyhound Association, the finals of the $20,000 Texas Round-up Sprint Championship took place on Saturday evening November 10 putting an exclamation point on an exciting week as Gulf Greyhound Park celebrated its 20th anniversary.