Ebro, Florida: First Round Results of Mega Morris Stakes at Ebro Greyhound Park

Round One of the Mega Morris Stakes at Ebro Greyhound Park in Ebro, Florida took place on Saturday night, August 11th, with a few surprises. In the very first race there was a major upset, while in the last qualifying race of the card half the field took a tumble, leaving only four dogs to vie for the points that ultimately will determine the finalists. The red-hot I've Been Bitten was cooled off by Nita's Jessica, as only greyhounds born no later than 2005 were eligible for this event.

In the first elimination heat, Dodgem Daddy went off an overwhelming five dimes to the dollar chalk, but despite having the one box, the brindle male failed to negotiate the first turn cleanly and finished fifth. This unexpected break allowed GMC Bashful to clear early, and Lisa Lynette ran her down in the stretch to score the victory. Lynette is always coming to the party late and as a matter of fact, it took the red female out of Flying Penske fifteen attempts this year before she was able to break her Maiden! But Lisa now has developed into a potent late speed threat, and this win can only serve to boost her confidence in future encounters.

Rackem Up Racky and Bow Excuse Me, a pair of greyhounds with just twenty-eight starts between them, were virtual co-favorites in the fourth. Racky on the lead is one fast dog, as evidenced by the fact that he has two wins in his young career by over thirteen lengths. When the red male bolted to the lead, it was all over; he toured the 1,650 foot sprint distance at Ebro in 30.67 seconds, the fastest time of the night. Bow Excuse Me had to settle for third behind GMC Regis.

Bow Hots Spots and Bow Lucky Me were the only two Grade A animals in the sixth, and they ran like it, finishing one-two. Hot Spots was never seriously challenged by Lucky Me, as the March 2006 fledgling ran a 30.90 in winning by six. Although one of the youngest in this tournament, Hot Spots is already a dangerous performer and the other greyhounds would do well to keep the red female from getting too close in a contest. In the eighth, Boss Movinup had no trouble reeling in Melba Who down the backside and the black bitch romped away once she did to the tune of a five length win in 30.92. Another March 2006 pup, Movinup has just a dozen Ebro starts under her belt but is getting better with each passing race.

In the tenth, GMC Dee Lila, with three Grade A wins already on her resume, ran down Kay V Keep Alone in the deep stretch. Staying close to the rail, Dee Lila was able to sneak by when it counted, as the betting choice, Ebro Randy, was only three lengths off in fourth place. The winning time of this tilt was thirty-one seconds flat. I've Been Bitten came into the feature twelfth race having won four straight and a total of nine Grade A races at the Florida Panhandle track, so the patrons naturally pounded the October 2005 son of Stan's Boy Flyer to 4-5 odds. But Nita's Jessica, a big late speed threat who has been in the front at the first corner exactly once in her forty previous trips around the Ebro racing surface, decided that this night would be as good as any to make it twice. Jessica made the clean lead from the five hole, with the very talented Clevely Bell chasing her. The pursuit was in vain, and I've Been Bitten, who made it around third, did well to catch Bell for the place spot, some two lengths behind Jessica's 31.10 clocking.

Speaking of clocks, half of the eight runners in the evening's final elimination got theirs cleaned at the first turn. Four dogs fell at the bend after a traffic pileup worthy of a New York rush hour, with GMC Fancy one of the four greyhounds left standing. Fancy had her own share of bad racing luck in her prior trio of outings, so you couldn't blame her if she didn't hang around to make sure everyone was okay. Her 31.70 was by far the slowest of all the Round One times for the Mega Morris Stakes, but like they say when someone bloops in a hit during a baseball game, it looked like a line drive in the box score, and to those who wheeled her in the quiniela, it was worth a tidy $93.