March/April 2011, Daily News

NGA Meet pups-Wheeling connection

By Stan Pawloski   Thu, Apr 14, 2011

Will a star of the future come out of next week’s National Greyhound Association Spring Meet in Abilene, Kansas?
    Time will tell as breeders bring their pups to the twice-a-year event. The fall meet is held in October.
    Racing kicks off Monday morning and continues throughout the week. The racing auction is held on Friday and Saturday, April 22-23.
    Wheeling’s two 2010 All-Americans, KB’s Ruckus and Cry Case, as well as the other honorees, will be recognized during the week.
    One of the greyhounds from the 2010 NGA Fall Meet, CTW Rough Shod, is one of the most exciting pups to break in at Wheeling in several years. Spotlighted in this column a few weeks ago, Rough Shod has now won four out of his first five career starts.
    Rough Shod is featured in Race 11 on the Friday night card. It will be his first trip against Grade AA company.
    Littermate CTW Roulette makes his Maiden debut Friday afternoon in Race 5. He has a pair of box-to-wire schooling victories by 10 and 7 lengths and word is he’s just as good as Rough Shod.

IN THE HOMESTRETCH:

    WIN LEADERS: With a little more than a quarter of the 2011 racing in the books, Bella Cubanaro (Wayne Strong) and Gable Eddie (Gable) top the win leaderboard with 9 each.
    Next in line are WW’s Dog Gone (Wayne Ward), 8; Oshkosh Nakayla (Charter), WW’s Patriots (Wayne Ward), Flying Culloden (Abrahamson), Its Orozco Rose (A Ray) and AMF Ex President (A Ray), 7 each.
    With 6 victories each are Chronicle Trent (C And C), CTW Rapid Rover (C And C), U Too Enzo (C And C), CTW Perfecto Rio (C And C), Braska Audi (Darren Henry) and KB’s Ruckus (Fast Track Racing).
    Wayne Ward tops the kennel standings with 170 wins followed by C And C with 141. Next in line are A Ray, 119; Charter, 114; and Steve Sarras, 112.

    IRISH INVASION: Several greyhounds owned and raised by Pat Dalton are on the grounds after opening their careers in Ireland. Express Hondo* raced Wednesday while Express Flow*, Express Louis* and Express Simon* have drawn in Friday afternoon.
    According to Barry Baldwin, a friend of Dalton, the group was trained in Ireland on a track with both an inside and outside lure. The racers who perform better on the outside lure stay in Ireland while some of the ones who race better on the inside are sent to the United States.
    Dalton is considered to be one of the top owners and breeders of greyhounds in both Ireland and the United States.
    The foreign invasion is racing out of the Bussmann Balakas Kennel at Wheeling and trained by David O’Keefe.

    ITS QIMAT RETIRED: Wayne Ward Kennel’s Its Qimat recently was retired after racing in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 calendar years.
    Qimat competed in both 5/16 and 3/8 races. In 184 career starts, Qimat had 28 wins, 32 seconds, 24 thirds and 35 fourths — a 65 percent mark on the pay sheet.
    In addition to Its Qimat, littermates Its Quenna, Its Qui Qui and Its Quito also raced Grade AA at Wheeling while Its Quillan made top grade at Derby Lane.

    CAMEO BACK: WP’s Cameo, a 2010 second team All-American, returns to the backside Friday evening after a nearly two-month layoff and a couple sprint starts. She’ll face youngster WW’s Patriots in a battle of girls.

    HOT DOGS: Wayne Ward Kennel’s Kiowa Starz Seth has raced to five straight victories (A, AA) for trainer Ron Otto. Kennel-mates WW’s Patriots has won three out of her last four Grade AA 3/8 races and Kiowa WW Romero (B, A) and WW’s Fast Willie (B, A) have back-to-back wins.
    C And C Kennel’s CTW Rough Shod has won four out of his last five trips (M, C, B, A) for trainer Patrick Bever. Kennel-mates U Too Enzo has three straight Grade AA victories, Explosive Trent has two wins and a second in her last three outings and Mexican Trent has back-to-back Grade AA 3/8 victories.
    Gable Kennel’s Gable Hot Dog has three Grade AA wins in a row for trainer Wayne Piquette. Kennel-mate Cry Exxon has two victories and a second in his last three 3/8 outings.
    Abrahamson Kennel’s Skate Ladd two straight Grade AA wins for trainer Tom Engle.
    Bussmann Balakas Kennel’s Kiowa Grand Girl has back-to-back Grade AA victories for trainer David O’Keefe.
    A Ray Kennel’s Its Orozco Rose (A, AA) and Dakotas Eleanor (A, AA) have two straight wins for trainer Joe Palmer.
    Steve Sarras Kennel’s Olympic Speed has back-to-back victories (B, A) for trainer Robert Allen.

By Stan Pawloski