“ACE” CONTINUES HIS HOT STREAK IN KINGS & QUEENS CHALLENGE

    The ladies looked to make things tough for the boys in this year’s version of the “gender battle” that occurs roughly a week after the Festival of Stakes each year.  The boys would have the last word, and somewhat unique to this year’s event, it even turned into a family battle.

    The top four finishers in the Darby Henry Female Sprint Championship were led by JS MAKIN WAVES (A Ray), who was a runner up in that race to surprise champion SLATEX HERMIPPE (Robert Thorne) but had the most season wins of the ladies with 12).  BGR BUMBLEBEE (Plum Creek) who had been the model of consistency with her past six straight races finishing no worse than fourth. Veteran stakes champion OSHKOSH RIPCORD (Charter Kennel) managed to finish fourth in the championship race to lock yet another chance to compete in a stakes final.  The aforementioned SLATEX HERMIPPE shocked the world at odds of just over 25 to 1 when she won the Female Sprint Championship, but drew the #1 box for this particular race which made it more possible for her to go “back to back” as she won a qualifying race from that post in the opening round of the Festival of Stakes.

     The “wildcard” entry, making this a nine dog race, was also a female this year with an impressive young pup by the name of WW FROSTY DAY (Wayne R. Ward).  She won the Arkansas Bred Juvenile Championship race in very impressive fashion (by 9 ½ lengths) going undefeated in all qualifying rounds.  The main question mark was that she was truly untested, with all her wins coming against fellow Arkansas bred pups in a field that was the least talent driven of the nine divisions in the Festival of Stakes.  There would be little doubt her toughest career test was against this field.

     On the male side of things JS FLAMIN ACE (Lester Raines) was coming off a fresh, and rather comfortable victory, in the Male Division Championship.  He won three of the four qualifying rounds in that event and came into the race on a four race win streak and 23 wins for the season overall.  He did draw the far outside (#9 post) which was unfamiliar territory for the brindle male, but the pure rushing speed he possessed would likely negate any negatives from starting out there.  MRL FULL BOAT (Darren Henry) ran third in the championship race and was riding a streak of 22 straight races finishing in the superfecta.  He also won 17 races on the season combined with another 10 second place finishes and had only missed the pay sheet four times in just over forty starts this season.  Speaking of good, CHILLAXIFICATION (Northshore) was looking like the real deal despite only having 12 career starts.  He finished second in the Male Division Championship after overcoming some early trouble and beat some of the best greyhounds at the racetrack during qualifying.  His break was suspect but his finishing speed was not.  Last spot for the males went to All-American KONOMI (A Ray) who was one of the feel good stories in the Festival of Stakes.  This stakes star held onto fourth place to earn a spot in this feature race, but the fact that he even made the championship race was a tribute to one of the best greyhounds to race in the past three years at Southland.  At just over four years old, he was still competing at the highest levels, but everyone knew this was likely his last career race.  If that is the way it turns out, it is only fitting he is racing against the best in a race like this.

     When the box opened for the 11th race that Friday evening, SLATEX HERMIPPE showed a quick flash of potentially pulling off a back to back upset win when she broke really well.  KONOMI also broke well and vied for the early lead along with JS MAKIN WAVES which gave the girls an early 2 to 1 advantage just a few seconds after the start of the race.  JS FLAMIN ACE had plenty of room to use his patented rush to the turn, however, and he quickly caught the rest of the pack as they entered the first turn.  Once into the turn though, you could tell the race was over already.

     JS FLAMIN ACE quickly built a lead to a couple of lengths over SLATEX HERMIPPE who was doing good not to be left in the dust.  BGR BUMBLEE hugged the inside enough to gain position to battle for third with KONOMI while JS MAKIN WAVES settled back to fifth.  Before the pack even hit the far turn, “ACE” had built his lead to an insurmountable six lengths.  The race would be on for second place.

     As SLATEX HERMIPPE was slowly losing steam, BGR BUMBLEE was saving ground and running smartly on the rail and was eventually left all alone in second place.  The only excitement left in the race was a four greyhound battle for third and fourth place which took a couple of photos to determine.  At the end of it, JS FLAMIN ACE won by 7 ½ lengths going away, stopping the clock at 32.04 which ended up being the second fastest finishing time of the night on the Arkansas Course.  BGR BUMBLEE pulled off a mild upset in finishing second at odds of 32 to 1 and finishing a couple of lengths ahead of the pack racing for third and fourth. 

     That battle was eventually won by “Ace’s” sister, JS MAKIN WAVES who got a head in front of SLATEX HERMIPPE who held onto fourth.  Just a length behind them finished KONOMI, who most likely finished his “greyt” career with a fifth, beating out youngster CHILLAXIFICATION by a nose, with the latter settling for sixth.  OSHKOSH RIPCORD was seventh, WW FROSTY DAY did not fare well against the best in her eight place effort while MRL FULL BOAT fell early in the race and received a DNF (did not finish).  He was ok after race and most recently officially schooled and is back on the active list.

    JS FLAMIN ACE is owned by Garth Bolton and Lester Raines and is trained by Monte Hoopes.  It is his 24^th victory on the season and his second stakes victory in back to back starts.

October 11, 2019 - Twilight

·       Race: 11   Grade: SAA   Distance: 583   Condition: F – KINGS & QUEENS CHALLENGE

EXOTICS:

$2.00 EXACTA 9/2 paid $106.80

$2.00 QUINELLA 2/9 paid $105.80

$2.00 TRIFECTA 9/2/6 paid $988.60

$2.00 SUPERFECTA 9/2/6/1 paid $6,957.40

  CHART: