Bonita Springs, Florida: Hot Racers on Tap at Naples-Ft. Myers Greyhound Park

While Senator Geller has been the main attraction this summer at Naples-Ft Myers Greyhound Park in Bonita Springs, Florida, there are plenty of other dogs that have been having fine years. There are several sprinters at the West Coast of the Sunshine State oval worth going to see, and some distance stars as well. This past weekend at Naples-Ft. Myers saw all of its standouts in action, with some of the results very surprising, with the last race on Sunday giving bettors reason to yell as a finish that looked certain almost wasn't.

No outcome was more shocking than the upset of Greys Swing Gate, in a 770 foot marathon no less. Swing Gate doesn't lose too many at this yardage, but of the last three that he has been beaten, Kelsos Hifalutin has been the dog to defeat him. On Friday the 27th of July, a hugely favored Swing Gate fell a nose short of Hifalutin after chasing her the entire way around the track in search of her thirtieth victory of 2007. Swing Gate's furious stretch rush just missed overtaking Hifalutin, who toured the 2,310 foot marathon in 42.89. Earlier in the card, Sweet Tom won his third in a row over the 3/8ths of a mile route, a streak he would extend to four with another win on Monday, the 30th. Tom has been as hot as the Florida weather recently, leading the quarter of triumphs every step of the way.

Blazing Logan's speed is second to none down in Naples-Ft. Myers and it was on display Saturday night, as the accomplished sprinter came out of an eight hole and cleared the turn behind early foot runner Desire To Fly. Logan stalked the leader all the way until the far turn, where he made his move and pulled away with a four length decision in 30.38 seconds. Logan put win number five out of seven attempts into the ledger with the result, and there's no reason to think that the black male out of Great Son, who just turned three in June, won't have another fine meet. Senator Geller came out a couple of races later looking for win number eighty-five of his wonderful career and promptly bombed, running fifth in a race won by Dewy Law, who is a solid greyhound in his own right. Geller had just had a thirteen race win streak snapped on July 21st, then had won another before this latest setback.

A future star at Naples may have debuted on Sunday, when Sweet Sara broke her Maiden by six lengths in 30.47 seconds, this after a 30.20 schooling rout. Sara is a January daughter of the great stud dog, Kiowa Sweet Trey, and she seems to have the ability to follow in the footsteps of so many of the other offspring of Sweet Trey that have been doing wonderful things on the tracks across the nation. After Sara waltzed to victory, JC's Wild Ewe ran the rapidest time of the performance when he trounced an A field in 30.19, winning by four. Wild Ewe's win was his 47th at Naples-Ft. Myers as the red male was never challenged in this one.

When La De Da Bonnie hits the lid, the brindle female makes the rest of the dogs look like they are running in quicksand, so big are some of the leads the two year old has established. In this Sunday card, Bonnie was five in front at the corner, but that margin paled in comparison to the ten length advantage she had at the first call the race before. Bonnie has been known to give back a big chunk, if not all, of those leads, but she has been getting stronger as she matures, winning the last five times she has gone to the head of the class. On this day, Bonnie handily held on by a pair of lengths in 30.29 for her fourth win out of seven starts since July 1st when the new meet began at Naples-Ft. Myers.

The weekend's racing action ended in exciting fashion, as Castle Rocker, making just his second start over the 3/8ths of a mile course, found himself trailing Flying Evening by eight lengths going into the stretch in the last race of the day, a Grade C affair. The foregone conclusion suddenly became much in doubt as Rocker took off like a jet and Evening was tiring badly; the margin suddenly began to dwindle so quickly that those with a stake in this race either began to sweat or jump up and scream. At the wire Flying Evening had seen every one of those lengths melt away, every one except for the length of his own nose, which is what she won the contest by, much to the relief of those who had been prematurely heading to the windows to claim their winnings.