Flyin Bridgeport Denies Extruding Dream Repeat Title in Derby Lane Distance Classic

The 48th annual Derby Lane Distance Classic, held at the St. Petersburg, Florida greyhound track, had more subplots than an episode of Grey's Anatomy, as well as three Greys' dogs. The race, held on Saturday evening, April 21st, was chock full of greyhound stars that each had something to prove. There was the All-American and Flashy Sir Award winner from 2006, Extruding Dream, trying to duplicate his victory in last year's race from the seven box. His brother, Phenomenal Dream, was in the one hole, attempting to show up his sibling. There was Grey's Huntington, a talented distance racer with no stakes titles to his name, and a pair of huge closers in Grey Blak Smith and Greys Touch Gold. Lazy K Newsman had been the toast of Derby Lane earlier in the season and lurked in the six hole, while Flying Midnite was in the eight, hoping to spring a huge upset. In the end however, it was Flyin Bridgeport, coming out of the two position, who was the best down the stretch, winning the Derby Lane Distance Classic by a length.

Most of the pre-race attention focused on Extruding Dream's chances at another Distance Classic crown, but those in the know could see that this was not the same animal that had dominated Derby Lane in 2006. One year to a greyhound competing against the type of dogs that Extruding Dream takes on start after start can exact its toll, and indeed it had on the 71 pound black male. He had been coming up short on a consistent basis over the 3/8ths of a mile course, grabbing an early lead in all four of his elimination trials but failing to win any of them. To take this race, he would need a huge lead and trouble behind. The problem was that there was simply too much late speed in the contest for him to deal with.

Greys Huntington is a very fast greyhound, but he has the track sense of a duck. If there is trouble to be found, Huntington will find it, and in this event he failed to take advantage of an early opening on the rail and managed to get himself boxed in and finished in sixth place. Phenomenal Dream, breaking with the red blanket on, bolted to the front right out of the box, with Extruding Dream in hot pursuit as they negotiated the immediate turn out of the 3/8ths box. Flying Midnite was making an early move but tangled up with Flyin Bridgeport coming out of the escape and took a spill. This left Flyin Bridgeport in third all by himself, with lots of ground to make up if he was to compete for the title.

A full seven lengths behind the Dream brothers as they went into the first call, Bridgeport had much work to do. Meanwhile, Extruding Dream had taken over the lead from his brother, who is also black, and they flew down the backside in tandem, much to the delight of the Magic City Kennel crew and trainer Doug Flint. Flyin Bridgeport was beginning to cut into the lead though, and as they approached the far turn, he had made all but a couple of lengths of it disappear. Phenomenal Dream at this point grabbed the baton from the quickly fading Extruding Dream and tried boldly to gain the wire ahead of the oncoming Bridgeport.

With Extruding Dream falling back, Phenomenal Dream clung to the rail. Flyin Bridgeport went wayyyyyyy wide in the stretch, and the betting favorite, Greys Touch Gold, actually had his head in front of them as they moved up on the leader heading for the wire. But when he finally straightened out, Flyin Bridgeport found another gear, and with it he cranked on by everyone and won the Derby Lane Distance Classic by a single length over Phenomenal Dream in 37.74 seconds. The white and brindle male out of Kiowa Sweet Trey and Flying Harriet, weighing in at 69 pounds, gave the McAllister Kennel, trainer Liz Dunnuck, and owner Vince Berland, yet another Derby Lane stakes title to go with the Derby Lane Million and All-Star Kennel preview, both taken by Flying Stanley earlier in the year.

The 1-2 quiniela of Phenomenal Dream and Flyin Bridgeport returned $18.80, while the triple, which was completed by Greys Touch Gold in third by two lengths, came back for $117.60. The patrons of Derby Lane had gotten the top three right in terms of making them the trio of favorites, just the order was wrong. Extruding Dream rounded out the superfecta, a full six lengths back in fourth place, with the 2-1-5-7 combo paying off at $431. Whether the game Extruding Dream stays on the longer route or goes to the shorter 1,650 foot distance remains to be seen, as the noble warrior and his handlers found out just how hard it really is to win back to back titles in any sport.