Ebro, Florida: Ray Thurber Dominates Ebro Greyhound Park with His Kennels

If you are going to win races at Ebro Greyhound Park, located in the small town of Ebro, Florida in the western panhandle, then you are going to have to find a way to beat Ray Thurber's greyhounds. Thurber and his wife Bette and daughter Brenda own and operate two of the eight kennel outfits at Ebro Greyhound Park, and the operation has combined for over 750 wins so far in 2007. Ray Thurber, who also owns a kennel at Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Massachusetts, is an old school dog man who takes no shortcuts, and this shows on the track.

Let's look at the races from the week of July 9th as an example of Thurber's Ebro dominance. Although the Ray Thurber Kennel garnered just one win on the 9th, a Monday, Plymouth Rock Kennel, his other barn, had a total of six. GMC Dee Lila and Tiffanysconflict scored big in Grade A events, with Conflict upsetting one of Ebro's top sprinters in the twelfth race, Yo My Penny Slot, who was seeking her 14th win of 2007 the same week her brother, Yo My Mediator, was taking the $60,000 Bluffs Run Championship Finals at Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in Iowa. But Penny Slot was no factor in this particular Ebro contest, as Tiffanysconflict held on in a long duel with Thurber's Aljo J Pierro.

Now it's not as if Thurber has no competition at Ebro Greyhound Park; quite the contrary. The Bellevue Kennel annexed five wins on that same Monday performance and always gives Thurber a run for his money. On Tuesday night Plymouth Rock, trained by Thurber's wife Bette, won four more races, capped by GMC Fancy and her tenth triumph of the season in the evening's second quickest 550 yard clocking, a 30.63. Only S&L Kennel's Kaycar Venus ran faster, a 30.50 in the grade A twelfth as the Palm Beach shipper continues to impress at Ebro.

On Wednesday, Thurber won four with his own kennel but the highlight of the card was Kay V Dawn's win from the one hole in a race where Goldie Donna of S&L was seeking her 25th of the year. Love A Hound's Postal, without a doubt the premier router at Ebro Greyhound Park, blitzed her foes in 37.11, easily catching Hammer McBeth of TA's Kennel, an outfit that just came to Ebro after the closing of Melbourne Greyhound Park a couple of weeks ago. Postal recorded her 36th career win at Ebro, as the three and a half year old brindle female made it look easy over the 3/8ths of a mile distance.

Thurber won a half dozen races on Thursday with his own charges, but could not knock off Flying Unleaded in the feature twelfth race. He did however secure the 19th win of the year for four year old Patriots Dynasty, who had dropped to B after doing battle in grade A for most of the meet. Dynasty made quick work of these lesser animals, in the time of 30.58; no one else could eclipse that standard on this night. Friday the 13th saw Ray and Bette win another handful of tilts, with the top grade second race falling to Thurber's Johns Dump Truck, as once again Penny Slot failed to cross the line first. Love A Hound's three year old standout sprinter DK's Export won his 13th on the 13th, as not even black cats crossing his path could have deterred him from winning. Bellevue has a real good one in super young Bow Glitter Bug, a sixteen month old wunderkind that dominated his D race by ten and may soon be more than anyone at Ebro can handle.

Thurber ended the Ebro week by winning eight of the thirteen Saturday night races, as the other kennels found themselves between a Plymouth Rock and a hard place. GMC Fancy won again for the second time this week, but the shock of the card came when TA's AA Kurt Joe, who had been running in the shorter 330 yard dashes at Melbourne, went to the lead and just did hold off Lago Cara, returning $26.80 to those who felt he could this far, or perhaps just misread the program and were too proud to admit it. Both Thurber buildings scored double digit wins for the six performances, with only Bellevue able to make the same claim.