Palm Beach Weekly Wrap Up 9/18/2016

There never really is a slow time around here is there?

We have a brand new wins leader atop the track championship chase, Puppy Stakes Finalists are trying out new distances and a national news outlet has a new favorite greyhound to root for.

Here's the top stories we saw from the previous week of racing at Palm Beach.

Your New Season Wins Leader

"The Bachelorette" Fraulein Morgan from the Janie Carroll Kennel has put together two of the best months of racing you'll see.  She's ripped off seven wins in her last eight starts with the one loss being by a nose after her rain soaked 38.40 secs victory on Sunday. With this remarkable consistency on the 660 yard "Rhonda" Course, Morgan is now the season wins leader by herself with 10 trips to the winners circle.

Janie Carroll's team has stated all along that Morgan will head down to Hollywood Greyhound Park when their meet starts back up in December.  A tough decision with how well Morgan is running and a season at Palm Beach that is one of the most wide open in years.  With a track and 3/8ths Mile Derby Championship to defend, there certainly will be some decisions to make for Carroll's team coming up in the next few months. One thing is for sure...Morgan is the best racer at Palm Beach right now.

Puppy Stakes Finalists Trying Out A New Distance

This past week, two of the Labor Day Finalists gave fans the chance to see what they could do in a longer distance.  With the 3/8ths Mile Derby coming up in February, greyhounds must have at least three starts on the "Rhonda" Course to be eligible and owners are already preparing for it.

Getting the head start last Wednesday was Quick Reserve (pictured) from B & B Racing who finished third in her first try.

On Sunday, the Puppy Stakes champ from Suncoast Racing Atascocita Lloyd was a runner up in his first attempt as well in schooling.  Both of these greyhounds have huge late closes and it will be interesting to see if they can transfer that type of game over to a course where a late kick is critical to possess.

The Weather Machine Loves Her Greyhound

It's no secret that owners in greyhound racing love naming their athletes after celebrities. Dogs like Ben Affleck, Celine Dee On, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and others have raced around the Palm Beach oval in the past few seasons. This past week we also found out that those same celebrities that the dogs are named after can become huge fans as well.

After a solid come from behind victory in last Monday's Matinee, I posted the race video of Janice Dean "The Weather Machine" from the Brindle Kennel on our social media sites tagging the real Janice from Fox News in them.  Arguably the most popular meteorologist in the business today, Dean responded to my tweet right away with an emphatic "Holy moly, are you kidding me?"

Dean was so excited about this greyhound that was named after her that she retweeted the video and tagged her colleagues from Fox News in it. She then was thrilled to hear about the 95% adoption rate after racing that the sport has and even stated that she wanted to come meet her namesake greyhound in the future. I'll be making sure to get photos of the new star greyhound and more videos to share in the very near future for Janice and the world to enjoy.

A real unique moment for this columnist to share the good news about the sport on a national level.

Telling The Competition Toodaloo!

She has simply loved running in September.

After a runner up finish in the Labor Day Puppy Stakes, Whirlin Toodlelu from the top team this season Douglas Kennel has continued to roll as the month has rolled on.  Toodlelu got her second straight win in Friday's Matinee finale, using her turbo thrusters late to fly by the Grade A field in a sizzling 29.51 secs. The way she is running, there's no doubt she'll continue to rocket up the rankings in her quest to lead the Douglas Kennel to their first team title since 1990.

That's all we have for this week.  We'll see you next time for the Wrap-Up!