Nov/December 2011, Featured Articles, Features

Females sizzle in the “Festival of Stakes”

By Shane Bolender   Tue, Dec 06, 2011

Friday evening, November 4, 2011 will go down as one of the most memorable nights in greyhound racing at Southland Park Gaming & Racing. Over $100,000 in added purse money was awarded that night along with the crowning of six champions, the first ever Arkansas Bred stakes race and the likely birth of an All-American greyhound who won her third major stakes title of the season. And that was just a good start for the ladies on this night. All the championships were won by females, which was amazing considering the talent and resumes of some of the boys in the finals. Added to the night to help commemorate the occasion was a prerace handicapping show, a post race analysis show and live interviews with the winning parties involved. All in all, it was a great event that is only destined to get bigger next year. 
To recap each division, let’s begin with the first stakes championship event of the night, the Crittenden Super Sprint Division: 
BOB’S BLUESTREAK CONTINUES WINNING WAYS IN CRITTENDEN SUPER SPRINT 
The championship field in the Crittenden Super Sprint Division started the night out on race 5 for the “Festival of Stakes” with a full field of eight featuring two major stars on that course. KYZ (Dungaree x Mariska) was positioned in the eight box boasting the track record winning time on the 334-yard course and finished second in qualifying with 47 total points earned. Those two facts combined had the betting public backing her as the betting favorite in the race at odds just below 3 to 2. Sitting in the blue post of #2 was BOB’S BLUESTREAK (Deerfield Site* x Bob’s Streak) who came into the night as the points leader with 50 and riding a two race winning streak (and three wins in four qualifying rounds). The rail runner was positioned perfectly to cap off the stakes event with a victory for the Bussmann-Balakas Kennel. 
The race started off great for BOB’S BLUESTREAK, who broke crisply from that inside post to latch onto second place early on. KYZ broke mid pack and immediately started having navigation issues with traffic building up to her left as the pack approached the only turn in the race. KEEPER LENOX (Bob’s Skeet x Queenbee Episode) made a nice rush to get into position for the turn for the T and T Kennel. As the case in many of the short distance races, some trouble ensued as the pack rounded the turn that caught up KYZ and ended any small chance of an upset by Craigie Tripper (Fuzzys Cannon x Craigie Tripple). 
As they rounded through the turn and came down the homestretch, BOB’S BLUESTREAK asserted command of the race and never looked back. She won the race by 1 ½ lengths stopping the clock at 17.91 which gave trainer Jerry Cruce his first stakes victory in many years. Second place went to KEEPER LENOX and third place went to GENESIS BEST (Swahili Eile* x Simone) who was only 2 ½ lengths behind the winner. 
BOB’S BLUESTREAK is owned by Robert Stokes and claimed her 11th win of the season in 37 starts. Kennel owner Tim Balakas was thankful for the victory and when asked about what a victory like that meant in the Festival of Stakes, he replied, “We have been in a drought when it has come to stakes victories, so this one feels great.”

HENRY WINS FIRST EVER ARKANSAS BRED STAKES CHAMPIONSHIP 
Arkansas bred greyhounds have found a rebirth of sorts thanks to increasing levels of purse money available since the integration of the gaming product at Southland Park Gaming & Racing. These increased monies have coincided with an increase in registered Arkansas bred and for the first time reached levels to support an Arkansas bred stakes event. In cooperation with the Arkansas Breeders, a division was created within the Festival of Stakes to help support and promote locally bred greyhounds. 
Local kennel owner and breeder Darren Henry and his wife Rachelle are not new to the Southland scene and have been concentrating on breeding Arkansas bred greyhounds for awhile. That effort led to landing four finalists in the field including CBJ TEDDY BEAR (Jimbo Scotty x Braska Sweettart) who came in as the points leader with 50 that included two victories and two place efforts in four rounds. Fan betting favorite KEEPER SPODE (Bob’s Skeet x Queenbee Episode) easily had the most wins during the season of the final eight in this race and was made the betting favorite in every single qualifying round, despite only winning one of those rounds. 
North Shore Kennel was represented with two finalists owned and trained by Rhianna Marriott including CG’S MISTER CASH (Castor Troy x RR Junkndatrunk) who had two straight victories coming into the championship and was posted in the eight box. Greyhounds from Ryan Farms Kennel and T and T Kennel rounded out the historical field for the 7th race of the evening. 
At the start of the race, an upset tried to get going with a sharp break of CBJ GRACELAND (Jimbo Scotty x Braska Sweettart) who got into the finals without a single victory and was going off at odds of nearly 35 to 1. CG’S JABBATHEPUP (Castor Troy x TBO’s Penny) used the #1 post position wisely and found room early inside to get in contention. A big rush to the turn was noticed from the #4 CBJ COLD FLURREZ (Dodgem By Design x LB Quibble) who raced somewhat erratically during the qualifying rounds (2 victories, a 4th place and a 6th place effort). 
As the pack rounded the first turn on the 583-yard Arkansas Course, CBJ COLD FLURREZ continued to dig in and extended her lead to three lengths. CG’S JABBATHEPUP improved to giving chase in second place and CBJ GRACELAND settled back into third. As evenly matched as the race was, those three would not change positions the rest of the way around the track and CBJ COLD FLURREZ coasted to victory, winning by two lengths stopping the clock at 32.22. 
The victory by the Darren Henry Kennel would prove to be the start of a good evening for kennel owner Darren Henry. His other three entries finished 3rd, 6th and 7th. CBJ COLD FLURREZ is owned by Carmen Jorgensen and picked up her sixth win in 16 starts. 
HENRY GOES BACK-TO-BACK, PULLS UPSET IN BALDWIN JUVENILE 
The Barry Baldwin Juvenile Division set up to be a three greyhound race on paper. Blazing into the championship was BRASKA MIDAS (B’s O’Grady x Braska Daba) who came into the night with 55 points thanks to three victories and a second place effort in four qualifying rounds. Hot on his heels was BELLA DA BULL (Dodgem By Design x Bella Iona) from the David Blair Kennel who had three victories of his own plus a third place effort during qualifying. KL’s JAEGAR (EM’s Mac Attack x Al E Porsha) wasn’t that far back from the leaders in points racking up 50 thanks to two wins and two second place efforts. 
All of those impressive stats made those three greyhounds proverbial “favorites” at the mutuel windows with BELLA DA BULL commanding betting favorite status thanks to her season leading wins (15) and wins showing in five or his last six starts. As has been said in the business before, “THAT’S WHY THEY RUN THE RACE”! 
All those stats went out the window when the box opened for the championship event. Little known BRASKA CINCH (E’s Able x Cherry Baby) flashed out the box and took the lead. Despite her not winning a single qualifying round, she did have a 15/5-4- 3-1 record on the season and showed good breaking ability from the inside post positions. ZAFT (Rhythmless x Mariska) was also winless in qualifying but had the coveted #1 post position and used that to his benefit breaking second. BRASKA MIDAS, despite not breaking the best, was still positioned decent in 4th out of the box but lacked the true room to get clean before the first turn. All these events came together to provide one of the two true upset victories in the Festival of Stakes. 
As the pack hit the first turn, BRASKA CINCH has built up a 2 ½ length lead and easily cleared the trouble behind her. HANNIBAL SMITH (Flare Gun x Coal Bee) overcame a bad start to the race by avoiding the major traffic in the turn and was positioned in fourth down the backstretch. ZAFT was still giving chase, but it was becoming apparent that he wasn’t gaining any real ground on the leader despite having a clear path. BRASKA MIDAS was still in the hunt in second and seemed to be best positioned to threaten the leader as they headed into the final turn. 
The lead only got bigger for BRASKA CINCH through the far turn and you could sense that she still had plenty left in the tank coming down the stretch. HANNIBAL SMITH was still driving but gave up too much early ground to make a serious threat and BRASKA MIDAS began to fade back ending his bid at the championship. At 13 ½ to 1 odds, BRASKA CINCH produced the second largest win payoff of the Festival of Stakes when she stopped the clock at 31.87. HANNIBAL SMITH furthered the big payoffs finishing second at 14.30 to 1 and ZAFT rounded out the huge payday by finishing third at odds of 10.70 to 1. 
The win was the second straight championship victory of the night for the Darren Henry Kennel and trainer Rachelle Henry. “She always seemed to have the talent,” said Rachelle. “We sent her to Wheeling from here and she didn’t do well there at all and came back. Ever since she returned to Southland, she’s started to show it (the talent)”. BRASKA CINCH is owned by Bill Elliott. 
ANSEL STYLES MARATHON CHAMP EXTENDS HER OWN WINNING STREAK
With easily the most wins of the season in the championship race, the prime post position and claiming victories in 4 of her last six races (including 3 straight), it was easy to pick perennial favorite MISTIE BASS (Dodgem By Design x D’s Moondust) to win it all. After all, the red female just set a new River Course record of 39.31 just two starts ago, during the qualifying rounds! Not many in the crowd figured it would be that close of a call. She should just romp away with her 22nd win of the season.
“NOT SO FAST MY FRIENDS”
Right next to her sat COUNTRY KID (Flying Penske x Secrets Told) who won comfortably in the last two starts leading into the championship finale. KELSOS VIRTUOSO (Trent Lee x Kelsos Sleeveen) also had won four of her last six starts, but had lost an earlier head to head battle with MISTIE BASS in the second qualifying round, despite having the lead early in the race. Also lurking in prime post position was #7 GOOD NEWS (Coldwater Keelin x Soda Sipper) who wrapped up two wins and a close third in similar post positions during qualifying and stayed within three lengths of betting favorite MISTIE BASS in the semi-finals. 
With all this talent set to do battle in the longest race of the night, it became clear that post position would greatly determine the winner in the event. As the box opened for the start of the race, KELSOS VIRTUOSO used her early foot to take the early lead as she did in five or her past six races. GOOD NEWS from the outside swept around the first turn in second place while the inside was commanded by MISTIE BASS who was within a couple of lengths right from the get-go. In the rearview mirror, little known BELLA FIRE (Trent Lee x Mattie Ross), who didn’t win a single race during qualifying, but accumulated some “board hits” was laying fourth and missed the trouble that tangled up COUNTRY KID and BRASKA DAQUIRI (Dodgem By Design x BD’s Fadalla) and essentially eliminated them from serious contention. 
It became apparent as the greyhounds hit the escape turn that it was a three dog race to the finish. GOOD NEWS, MISTIE BASS and KELSOS VIRTUOSO were all within a couple of lengths of each other with clear running lanes down the backstretch. KELSOS VIRTUOSO’s lead was slowly dwindling however and the inevitable seemed to be coming true as GOOD NEWS was about to overtake the lead. 
Into the far turn, KELSOS’s VIRTUOSO was clearly out of gas and encountering trouble in the stretch turn accelerated the fading back leaving plenty of room ahead for GOOD NEWS who was now being gained on by MISTIE BASS for a two dog stretch showdown for the title. At the finish line, MISTIE BASS proved to be too tough as she passed GOOD NEWS in the stretch to win the championship by a length and a half. GOOD NEWS was by himself for second place while longshot BELLA FIRE cruised in for third. The superfecta was rounded off by a nice closing effort from DEVIOUS SPEED (Unruly Thomas x Velocious Dash) who showed shades of his mother by closing from last place to notch a fourth place finish. 
In most cases, being behind in a race isn’t something to be cherished. Trainer Bob Gray would normally agree with that statement but sees a different MISTIE BASS when she doesn’t have the front. “She seems to run harder when she doesn’t break and has to come from behind,” he said. “She just has tons of run in her and she showed it again tonight.” 
MISTIE BASS runs for and is owned by the Plum Creek Kennel. 
MAJOR UPSET HEADLINES MIDDLE DISTANCE CHAMPIONSHIP 
With not failing to hit the superfecta in all 24 of his starts, TIGER BOY (Flying Penske x Flying Esquisite) had lived up to the hype on the Razorback Course. Twenty of those starts finished with him in the Quiniela and he had won three of his four qualifying rounds with a very close 2nd place effort in his other start. And if that wasn’t enough, he even holds the track record winning time for the course. Without a doubt, as he has in his previous starts, he would be pegged by the gambling public as the favorite to take the championship race as well. 
Also garnering talk was CRY HOPE (Gable Zydeco x Iza DC Classic) who’s early speed has allowed her to rack up 31 of 48 starts finishing in the Quiniela and has been a threat to win nearly every race she has started in. With all the flashy stats, it seemed to be the Quiniela to play up to that point of the evening. 
All those tickets fell to the floor within seconds of the box opening for the championship race in the Middle Distance Division. KL’S MURIEL (EM’s Mac Attack x PB’s Dina Flo) broke sharply, as expected. The white and brindle female is a known box breaker and nearly pulled off three straight wins to get into the finals, but was also known to be caught at times late in the race. TIGER BOY did not break, also expected, but found himself behind a lot of traffic early and leaving himself prone to trouble in the turns. CRY HOPE missed her break for the first time in months and doesn’t have the reputation to run anybody down from behind which effectively eliminated her from winning the race. 
But even with CRY HOPE’s unexpected start, nobody could have predicted the fast start from KL’S SWEET TEA (EM’s Mac Attack x PB’s Dina Flo). While breaking on top has happened with her before, the ability to build leads and maintain them has been elusive. With only six total wins in 42 starts on the year, she was routinely beat by other greyhounds in the championship field. However, somebody forgot to tell her that on this night. 
BELLA INCUBUS (Kiowa Mon Manny x Bella Iconic) used her prime post position to sneak in early contention as well. As the race progressed, some traffic and trouble occurred in the escape turn, only helping KL’S SWEET TEA keep her lead as her littermate KL’S MURIEL kept pace down the backstretch. TIGER BOY looked to be out of contention at this point in the race while CRY HOPE recovered to third place but in no position to mount a serious challenge to the leaders. 
As the race progressed into and through the final turn for the stretch run, it was all over except counting the lengths as KL’S SWEET TEA coasted to the finish line winning by 6 ½ lengths. BELLA INCUBUS mounted a late charge to pass his rivals to claim second place honors and KL’S MURIEL held on to third with CRY HOPE rounding out the superfecta. At 22.50 to 1, it was the largest odds of the night for the winner and her margin of victory was the largest of any of the championship races. 
KL’S SWEET TEA races for the Legg Kennel and is owned by Karen Legg. Trainer Dan Beaton got his second victory of the night with this win (previously won the Ansel Styles Marathon Consolation with K’S SLOANE). 
SHANETT EARNS “HATTRICK” WITH VICTORY IN SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP
While the rest of the championship races featured some of the best fields top to bottom, the Mid-South Sprint Championship was clearly a battle between two greyhounds that combined has amassed 57 victories on the season and six wins during qualifying. BELLA INFRARED (Kiowa Mon Manny x Bella Iconic) had claimed a new Arkansas Course track record winning time of 31.43 right before qualifying began. He has also destroyed a field in opening round action by 11 lengths and had two straight wins coming into the championship event. SHANETT (Rhythmless x Maybix) had already won stakes titles this season by taking the $10,000 Spring Futurity and the $50,000 Southland Derby. She also had two straight wins, both from the #1 post position coming into the championship final and had been soundly beaten by BELLA INFRARED on the day he set the new track record. With so much attention on these two greyhounds, it was a bit of a surprise both were not bet down to mere pennies on the dollar.
Or was it? 
BELLA INFRARED was tucked in the middle in post #5. Notoriously a bad post position anyway, it would also not allow any mistakes to be made for a greyhound that lived on making big rushes to the first turn and then pulling away from there. SHANETT had been making a living on inside post positions lately, but winning from the far outside wouldn’t be considered a fluke either. She broke her maiden from post #8 back in early March. She won her first stakes championship from the #8 post as well. The only question would be could she break and rush well enough to clear the first turn and give herself a chance? 
Some competition could surely be expected from fellow kennelmate and brother TAQZUN (Rhythmless x Maybix) who’s only win during qualifying came from the #1 post position, which was the same post he drew for the championship. Next to him was BRASKA FAD (E’s Able x BD’s Fadalla) who didn’t have any prime post positions in any of the qualifying rounds, yet still came away with a win and two close place efforts and got the benefit of an inside post position to suit his running style. 
As the starting box opened for the much anticipated race, SHANETT didn’t break on top but lurked on the mid part of the track as the turn quickly approached. BELLA INFRARED broke decent but the room to rush was quickly closing as other greyhounds in the race began jockeying for position. Tucked away on the inside was BRASKA FAD who was able to stay step for step with the group and TAQZUN flashed out of the box and was threatening to upstage his sister. Almost sensing that, SHANETT hit another gear and used the room allotted to her to quickly rush and challenge for the early lead. 
That burst of speed going into the turn was likely the difference maker in the game. SHANETT quickly hung a left turn and dove to the inside part of the track. That move caused her brother TAQZUN to slow just slightly and cause a bit of a chain reaction of trouble. That trouble effectively took out BELLA INFRARED from being able to win it and also caused issues for half the field. That trouble allowed SHANETT to build a three length lead with BRASKA FAD right behind her on the rail and TAQZUN relegated to third. 
Chances to catch and pass SHANETT in the race looked to be slim. She had only been caught twice in her young career once she established a lead past the first turn. Down the backstretch, there was a small sense of urgency to reach the finish line by kennel owner Robert Thorne as BRASKA FAD refused to give up and was ever so slowly gaining on his superstar pup. TAQZUN was slowly losing steam and ended up being blocked by BRASKA FAD in the far turn. As the two dog race entered the homestretch run, SHANETT’S lead was down to two lengths but the ground was not closing fast enough to prevent her from achieving the hat trick of stakes wins for the 2011 racing season. She crossed the finish line in a time of 31.76 winning with a length of room to spare and giving Robert Thorne continued success in the Festival of Stakes. He and trainer Bonnie Thorne won three of the events last year with Marc Randle “Scrabble” dogs, including the Sprint Championship with TROUGELZ. 
Robert Thorne felt a sense of relief with the victory. Not only did he wear a suit (which he superstitiously tries to avoid), but he honestly felt there was only one dog in the race (BELLA INFRARED) that he thought could have beat SHANETT straight up. “He’s one heck of a dog”, Thorne said. “We are fortunate to have such a great dog ourselves with her. She tries so hard and I can’t say enough about the Randles and how special it is to get to race a dog like her”. 
SHANETT is trained by Bonnie Thorne and is owned by Marc Randle. Her win in the championship marked her 28th win of the season, just two behind BELLA INFRARED.

By Shane Bolender

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