Dubuque, Iowa: Pat C Dogs Let the Bettors Down at Dubuque Greyhound Park

The $55,000 Dubuque Classic Stakes got underway Saturday evening, August 11th, with four first round qualifying races at Dubuque Greyhound Park in Iowa. The stakes is contested over the 680 yard Dubuque Course and the final is set for September 1st. In the first round of elimination races, in which the greyhounds vie for points based on where they finish and the top eight point-getters go to the big race, there were surprises as just one favorite was able to come away victorious. In one heat, a 60-1 shot almost pulled off the upset of the year at Dubuque Greyhound Park, while the trio of big closing Pat C dogs failed to make it up for even a second place showing.

In the first elimination, Sobe Blueberry got it together just in time to romp to a seven length victory in 39.44 seconds. Blueberry was the top router at Bluffs Run earlier this season before going stale, and it was thought that a trip across state to Dubuque would get her back on track. But after winning her first Dubuque route from way back, she managed just a second and a third in her next quartet of starts. However, Blueberry was more than up to the task in Round One of the Classic Stakes, as the blue brindle female charged to the head of the pack right from the get-go and never was threatened. JS Radical Ness, a new arrival in grade A at Dubuque, chased Blueberry all the way around, while Pat C Go Boy, one of the best routers at Naples-Ft. Myers and Dubuque this year, could muster only a fourth place effort after early trouble. Go Boy always breaks poorly and then flies like gangbusters late, but he was coming off a month layoff and may not have been at his sharpest. Go Boy needs to quickly regain the form that saw him leave Florida as a beaten favorite in a stakes final and then win five of seven routes after arriving in Iowa.

In the eighth race Pat C Get It went off at 8-5 odds, but making this particular greyhound the chalk is risky business. Get It, a full brother to Go Boy, has made the lead in a race exactly once in his life, and he is always coming from the back of the pack. On this night, he broke poorly and cleared the first call in seventh, while 60-1 ultra long shot Letra bolted to the lead out of the blue. Letra had been abysmal in her previous half dozen, showing just one third in that span, but for most of this race she led while the railbirds kept checking their programs to see if they were indeed on the correct page. Slatex Heart came on late to pick off Letra in the stretch, but the quiniela still paid $123! Pat C Get It closed late to run third, winning a three dog photo for precious points that he may need later on in this competition.

The tenth race featured yet another Pat C in Pat C Shes Right, a black female who is slower than her two brothers early if that's possible. Ah, but it was, and she proved it by lollygagging to the turn in last. Her late burst could only bring her up to fourth, as sprinter turned router Kiowa Nephew went from the box to the wire unchallenged to win in 39.33 at almost 6-1 odds. Nephew is a greyhound that has run at both The Woodlands and Derby Lane, so he may have the class to go this far, if for only a couple more races. RB Black Satin, who was in Grade D as recently as Independence Day, gave a good account of himself to run second.

By the time the twelfth race came around, the final one of the first round, the crowd had probably had it up to here with greyhounds that were supposed to come from behind but instead just got the being behind part right. But there were three solid closing choices here in O Ya MR. Black, the Colorado shipper HL Dagwood, and Galebutterfinger. Naturally the patrons went with Gale, who encountered early trouble and finished up the track, while Mr. Black caught the fading WMB Spirit in the stretch and then held off Dagwood, who came flying as if he was late to work. Instead of a luckless postman though, Dagwood had Mr. Black to contend with, and although he made a valiant run he could not do any better than second. The crowd slowly shuffled out the door, left by the Pat Cs to feel like patsies, but as every gambler knows, tomorrow is another day.