2005 in Review at Gulf Greyhound Park
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From l to r with champion Bacs Mc Fasty: Ron Moseley, GGP Starter; Sally Briggs, GGP General Manager; Robert Wallis, Pevehouse Asst. Trainer; Kayla Wulf, GGP Lead-out. |
Tommy La Rosa with Texas Fall Sprint Champ Bob's Wal. |
Tommy La Rosa with Sheldon Levine Champ Bob's Skeet. |
From l to r with Gordon Wood Champ NinetytoNothing: Rita Rex, Lingle Trainer; Ciarra Teverbaugh, Lead-out; Sally Briggs, GGP GM; Jenny Oakley, GGP Chartwriter. |
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When one sits down to write a piece like this, a review of the past year at Gulf Greyhound Park, it seems the first thing that comes to mind is what’s in store for the future. The writer thinks back about what his thoughts were just one year earlier as he wrapped up 365-days in just a few paragraphs, but looming in his mind is the future, always the future.
Will any of these top athletes from 2005 extend themselves and win 30+ races this coming year? Can they maintain their health and ability to go on and repeat a stakes win? How many young pups will make a name for themselves during the upcoming year and put the past champs in the past? These are just a few questions about the future that come to mind as the writer gathers thoughts about the past and the significance of his subject matter.
Someone more quote worthy than this writer once said, “We must learn from our past history to successfully master the future,” and if this is true (there is no reason to believe it’s not), then Gulf Greyhound Park’s success in the near future is bright. The year 2005 had its “ups-and-downs,” some controllable and some not, but we learned lessons that should bolster the future. Such as, proudly in 2006 Gulf Greyhound Park will double the number of stakes races and hotboxes from the previous year because it is proven that the fans enjoy watching the best of the best meet on the sand oval. Additionally, Gulf Greyhound Park will take pride in promoting the reason people come to the track in the first place …to see the greyhounds compete, whether it is for the enjoyment of gambling or the competition of the event, GGP will continue to bring out the stars!
Delicately setting aside 2006 and taking off the prognosticators cap, lets look back on 2005; aforementioned, a year of “ups-and-downs.” 2005 at Gulf Greyhound Park was a season that endured 1-1/2 kennel coughs, a hurricane named Rita, and gas prices that kept would-be entertainment goers at home, those are the “downs,” but it’s not all doom and gloom. In 2005, Gulf Greyhound Park weathered many storms, some literally and some metaphorically, to bring its fans both locally and on the simulcast network some of the best greyhound racing in the country: so lets now explore the “ups.”
The 2005 season started out with a bang as a shipper with huge credentials from Pensacola came in and broke onto the scene. In late January on a Sunday afternoon, Pevehouse Kennel’s Bacs Mc Fasty, who earlier lowered the track record at Pensacola, busted the box and traversed the 550-yard course in a 29.87. This was the fastest time recorded at GGP in over two-years. The last greyhound to run faster was All-American Gable Vermillion.
The 29.87 that he ran was the fifth fastest time of this millennium at Gulf Greyhound Park and the other four times were run by the aforementioned Gable Vermilion back in 2002. The 29.66 track record that was set way back in 1996 by Grace Land Blaze was challenged when Vermilion clocked a 29.68 after posting 29.84, 29.85, and 29.86’s, but no greyhound had broken into the 29.80’s until Mc Fasty did it, in fact, only one other greyhound, One Nation, had broken the 30 second barrier over the last two years. This race would put Bacs Mc Fasty on the map; however, this wasn’t the last we heard of him in 2005, we’ll explore his 2005 endeavors later.
It was several months into the 2005 season before the best of the best met in a race, and that was the Night of Stars spring edition hotbox, which was contested on May 14. This hotbox event drew many of the best sprinters at the park into a single race, and this would act as a preview for some of the upcoming stakes events. The Night of Stars ran as the fourteenth race of the card and turned out to be a real coming out party for another greyhound that would soon leave GGP and travel north to Wheeling, in search of fame and huge purse earnings. Gable Chloe drew the one-post, and as the betting public anticipated by making her $1.60 to $1, she took off and left the rest of the star-studded field behind, winning by three-lengths and clocking a 30.47. As mentioned, this race previewed some names that became prominent throughout the 2005 season. Names like, ML’s Switchblade, San Tan Jackpot, and Monterrey Gotile are just a few, and two of these three would take home the top prize in the next two stakes events.
Finally, after being pushed back twice due to kennel cough, the dates for Gulf Greyhound Park’s flagship event, the $30,000 Texas Round Up, were set. Texas’ richest stakes series played out over four qualifying rounds to a championship final, which ran on June 18. Although the top point earner and undefeated favorite, Cry Gilbert could only muster a fourth place finish, the large crowd was not disappointed. They saw the most closely contested Round Up final in GGP history. With only six-lengths between the winner and last place finisher, Allen Kennel’s San Tan Jackpot managed to run around the frontrunners using a wide trek and earn the $15,000 top prize. Although San Tan Jackpot drew his favorite post for the championship, the eight, not everyone in the Allen camp was happy.
The wide running Jackpot drew all seven and eight holes in the qualifying rounds, while winning two and finishing second in the other two races, it was apparent that the eight-hole draw in the finals would be just what he needed, or was it?
“When I drew the eight post for Jackpot in the final, it was actually disappointing,” said Allen Kennel trainer Jim McGehee. “The one hole was the post I wanted…I think he breaks better from the inside and I wanted people to know that he wasn’t a one dimensional runner.” Although he proved his ability by winning the coveted crown as Texas’ best sprinter, he did it from the outside post, and after the race, nobody questioned San Tan Jackpot’s speed or intelligence.
With his big win in the Round Up, San Tan Jackpot was on a roll: but would the roll carryover into the next stakes race, the Summer Slugfest, which would run in July. Again, some familiar names and some new budding superstars would use this stage to advance their careers.
San Tan Jackpot had not finished out of the quinella since the Round Up and was coming off three-straight victories going into the finals of the Slugfest. Along with Jackpot, the championship field consisted of veteran sprinters Monterrey Gotile and ML’s Switchblade, but also included youngsters Bob’s Skeet and Buckeye Ken, with only 30 lifetime starts between the two. The excellent mix of talent proved to be too much for the Round Up Champ as Monterrey Gotile busted the box and held off the charging Bob’s Skeet for a Summer Slugfest victory by only a nose, as the betting favorite San Tan Jackpot ran third. Although this win showed Monterrey Gotile was still a major player, it also was a true coming out party for Bob’s Skeet and Buckeye Ken, both amazing young stars. Monterrey Gotile traversed the 550-yard course in an exceptional 30.17, and from this time on, he would be one of the best until an injury late in the year would end his 2005 season prematurely.
To prove his point, LQK Kennel’s Monterrey Gotile, would complete a summer sweep by taking home another trophy, but in a much tougher way. On September 4, Monterrey Gotile became a champion again by winning the Summer Survivor Series. This countdown series began with sixteen sprinters and culminated to a two-dog match race for all the marbles. Just to emphasize the quality of racing in this field, the four-dog race consisted of what would eventually be the top four greyhounds by wins in the 2005 season: Bacs Mc Fasty (24 wins), Monterrey Gotile (23 wins), ML’s Switchblade (22 wins), and San Tan Jackpot (19 wins). However, Monterrey Gotile and ML’s Switchblade proved to be the two best, at least at the time, and would meet head-to-head in the final.
Usually, a two-dog match race doesn’t live up to the hype; however, this one would be different, much different. It was arguably the best race of the year. Monterrey Gotile drew the three-box, while Switchblade was in the one-hole. As the starting box opened Gotile nosed to a slight lead and held the advantage at each call by only ½-lenghth. When the two came down the stretch, it was anyone’s game, who wanted it worse? At the line, Monterrey Gotile bobbed his head up just in time to take the win in a close photo finish and earned the Survivor Series Championship.
This stakes series along with another successful Track Surface and Safety Seminar, an annual event held at Gulf Greyhound Park and sponsored by the TGA, NGA and AGTOA, would be very high points leading into a large depression for not only Gulf Greyhound Park: but the whole Texas Gulf Coast. Just days after the seminar ended, a Cat-5 Hurricane named Rita was bearing down on the coast of Texas and forced a mass evacuation from the Houston-Galveston area. Luckily, the track and compound was spared from the high winds and floods, but ask anyone involved, they have a tale to tell about the mandatory evacuation nightmare.
By middle-October, things were back to normal and as mentioned earlier, Bacs Mc Fasty would become a serious player in the 2005 season, and in early November, he began to draw attention once again. In a huge come-from-behind effort in the fall edition of the Night of Stars, Bacs Mc Fasty flew down the stretch to win his first of six straight races and earn the Night of Stars title. Unfortunately, for the hottest dog at GGP, Mc Fasty, he is not a Texas bred greyhound and was not eligible for the $15,000 Texas Fall Sprint Classic. The Texas Fall Sprint would turn some heads towards another up-and-coming superstar with ties to an aforementioned.
Bob’s Wal took home the $7,500 added stakes money on November 19 by coming around his competition and earning a one-length victory and a Texas crown. Bob’s Wal is a littermate to Bob’s Skeet, who could not compete in the Fall Sprint due to a minor injury; however, Bob’s Wal made the family proud as he bested the field with a 30.29.
The month of December was a haven for hotboxes. The first of three to contest was the Gordon Wood Memorial. In a surprising box to wire effort on December 3, Lingle Kennel’s Nintytonothing blasted out of the box to stun an excellent field of sprinters in the Gordon Wood Memorial Feature. The annual feature race memorializes Gulf Greyhound Park’s first track announcer Gordon Wood who passed away in 1995.
At 15.50 to 1, Ninetytonothing was by far the longest shot on the board paying a whopping $33.00 to win, while running a quick 30.41 over the 550-yard course. “When she broke to the front, I knew she had a good chance to surprise the field,” said Rita Rex, Lingle Asst. Trainer. “She’s still not two (years old) yet, and is maturing with each and every race, tonight was an excellent win!”
The 57 lb female out of TNT Star Wars and CJ Jessie popped the box and sprinted to the lead early. She rushed the turn and had about a one-length lead over Bob’s Skeet as they hit the backside. Although Bob’s Skeet tried to make a race out of it, Ninetytonothing would have no part of it! As the pressure mounted, she poured it on and extended to a 2-1/2-length victory at the line.
The second hotbox was the Sheldon Levine Memorial, a race memorializing one of GGP’s greatest fans. When Bob’s Skeet (Gable Dodge – Bob’s Fraschilla) drew the number one post-position for the running of the Second Annual Sheldon Levine Memorial on December 17, it was obvious that the hottest sprinter at Gulf Greyhound Park had a major advantage. As the box opened and the race played out, Stokes – La Rosa’s Bob’s Skeet would leave few of the fans in attendance disappointed.
He came out of the box untouched, which gave him a clear run to the first-turn and the ability to take off and leave the field behind. Although he squeaked to a slight advantage over Pat Dalton’s Too Late by the 1/8-pole, Bob’s Skeet’s game is up the backside and down the homestretch. “Once he cleared the first turn on top, I knew that nobody could come and get him, but his brother (Bob’s Wal) gave him a good run in the stretch,” said Tommy La Rosa, Stokes – La Rosa trainer and co-owner. “Skeet is unbelievable on the front end, he’s a real special competitor.”
As La Rosa mentioned the only real threat to Skeet in the race came from his littermate Bob’s Wal. Bob’s Wal has the speed and credentials (Texas Fall Sprint Champ) to make a huge stretch run; however, it was a little too late and perhaps fruitless, but it gave the Stokes – La Rosa Kennel a one-two finish in the Sheldon Levine.
There was true drama at the end of the 2005 season. The Au Revoir Featured Texas Fall Sprint Champ Bob’s Wal, Night of Stars Champ Bacs Mc Fasty and Sheldon Levine Champ Bob’s Skeet all in one race, but there was more than just another title on the line For Bacs Mc Fasty. With a victory in his last start before the Au Revoir, he had accumulated his 23rd win to tie the idle Monterrey Gotile for the Wins Lead and Track Championship; however, the win to take him over the top and earn the title all by himself would be a tough one! In the Au Revoir final on New Year’s Eve, the last race of the year, Bacs Mc Fasty would use his patented late kick down the stretch in very dramatic fashion to nose out Too Late and take the Wins Championship of 2005 with 24 wins, while Bob’s Skeet and Bob’s Wal remained back.
Another spectacular year of racing in 2005 at Gulf Greyhound Park: and we’ll be looking for much more of the same in 2006! See you at the races.
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| For more information on this, or any greyhound news, contact Gulf Greyhound Park at 1-800-275-2946 or log on to the track's website at http://www.gulfgreyhound.com. |
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