Palm Beach Weekly Wrap Up 9/11/2016
*Labor Day Champ Atascocita Lloyd*
What a week it was at the Palm Beach Kennel Club! We had one of the biggest long shots in stakes finals history on Monday, an all star showdown that lived up to the hype on Saturday and the Palm Beach athletes and former alumni were recognized in a national top 25 poll.
Here's the biggest stories we saw from the previous week of racing at "The Beach."
Upset City In The 20K Labor Day Puppy Stakes Final
The first huge stakes series came to a conclusion last Monday, as Palm Beach crowned a new champion in Atascocita Lloyd from Suncoast Racing in the 20th annual Labor Day Puppy Stakes Final. In one of the largest upsets in finals history here, Lloyd was able to run down kennel mate Atascocita Kurly at the line in a stunning victory at 23-1 odds.
Usually an off the pace runner that comes from way behind to contend, Lloyd got the break of his life out of the box and found himself surprisingly in second around the curve. It was all over from there as Kurly predictably put on the parachute coming for home and settled for second behind Lloyd.
This is now the third gigantic upset we have seen in a stakes final at Palm Beach in 2016 after Flying Russian took the Spring Puppy Stakes at 14-1 & Xtenshun brought home the 50K He's My Man Championship in January at 16-1 odds. Maybe long shots are the new norms in finals here!
Congratulations to Atascocita Lloyd and Suncoast Racing on winning this prestigious tournament. Look for the next big tourney to come around in December with the $20,000 Dick Andrews Futurity.
New UGR Top 25 National Poll
United Greyhound Racing, who releases their National Top 25 Poll quarterly throughout the racing season revealed their best of the best this past week. Palm Beach was well represented in the rankings, with three of it's stars being recognized with the best in the country.
GV MooseIsLoose after winning 8 of 10 starts since the start of the season rocketed up the rankings finishing 4th. This is the highest a Palm Beach racer has been in this poll since Rob Gronkowski way back in 2013 got as high as 3rd. Also making the Top 25 were the now retired Sentinel at #6 and "The Bachelorette" Fraulein Morgan from the Janie Carroll Kennel at #21 after a monster couple of months at the middle distance.
What was even more awesome to see was the former alumni of the Palm Beach Kennel Club that have gone on to other tracks and found success and were honored nationally by this poll. They include:
#2 Kinda Cruel Red ~Wheeling (West Virginia)
#5 Daily Prayer ~ Southland (Arkansas)
#12 Oaks Maddy ~ Southland (Arkansas)
This poll is especially important because it is one of the main factors on who gets a nomination to our self sponsored Daytona 550 National Championship coming up this January. How cool would it be to see Palm Beach and many of its former alumni decorating the field?
Congrats to all athletes and teams for being recognized. Here is a link to the full Top 25 Rankings:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4FE-RafwrogQ0M1Rkd6d2N5Xzg/view
*Whirlin Toodlelu*
All Star Race Saturday
In a match up of stars that is usually reserved strictly for stakes finals, Palm Beach spoiled their faithful followers by putting together an all star showdown in Saturday's Matinee finale. New champ Atascocita Lloyd, Big Red Dog, Go Big Or GoHome & Whirlin Toodlelu were all put together in one gigantic start for all parties.
Toodlelu from the red hot Douglas Kennel after finishing as the runner up in Monday's Labor Day Final put on a show in this one as she used her fantastic after burners on the homestretch to take the victory in 29.94 secs. Toodlelu is absolutely one puppy prospect to keep your eye on the rest of the season. The not even two year old as the potential to be a really good racer here for a long time.
The Douglas Kennel Takes Over
After over two months of having the 11 time champs from Rader Racing leading the Kennel Championship chase, the Douglas Kennel was able to nudge ahead this week, taking a slim lead after Sunday's action. With top stars GV MooseIsLoose, Barts Dublin (pictured) & Whirlin Toodlelu, Douglas shouldn't go anywhere anytime soon. Great work by trainer Justin "Credible" Douglas and the entire team so far this season. Can they be on top at the end of the chase will be the ultimate question.
With Rader, Douglas & last years champs from B & B Racing, this could be one of the more hotly contested championships we have seen in some time here.
Here are the up to minute statistics for this season at "The Beach"
#NeverForget
I hope everybody was able to reflect and remember on this anniversary of September 11th. As I'm sure is the case with all of you, I remember exactly where I was and how I felt that day even 15 years later.
That's all we for this week. See you next time for the Wrap Up!
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