Houston, Texas; San Tan Dog Gone Triumphant in Gulf Greyhound Park's Night of Stars Route

Gulf Greyhound Park's Night of Stars race was one of the most thrilling of the entire program, and without a doubt one of the hardest to handicap. The Night of Stars is a twice yearly extravaganza of races from various greyhound tracks across the country, with those venues's best on display against each other. Some of the proceeds from this card go to greyhound adoption, and the entire performance is simulcast all over the country into other dog tracks and race books, allowing the nation to see most of the biggest racing stars compete versus one another. The Gulf Greyhound Park Night of Stars race, the thirteenth on the program, was run over the 660 yard 3/8ths of a mile course, and it was anybody's race on paper, and on the actual track as well, until an experienced router showed up late to claim the brass ring.

What made the Gulf Greyhound Park tilt, held at the Texas racetrack located outside of Houston, so hard to figure out was the fact that half of the field had not run the distance before or in a long time, while the other half did not consistently run just 3/8ths races. CL Texas Star in the one box was coming off a sprint title in the Texas Greyhound Association Round-Up stakes and showed great closing ability-on the shorter 1,650 foot 5/16ths of a mile course. U Too Graceland in the two hole was exhibiting five wins in the last six racing lines in the program, and although he has run this far and won, it hasn't been recently. San Tan View in the three is a Gulf mainstay and she had a trio of 3/8ths lines showing, including a triumph. Button Hole in the green blanket had demonstrated oodles of late speed over the 5/16ths and San Tan Dog Gone in the five had three route victories in her last six races, with two of them being of the box to wire variety.

A's Aristotle was in the six box, and her last few indicated that she had early speed over the 3/8ths and late speed on the sprint. The veteran campaigner P's Racy Katy, in the candy striper's outfit, can come flying late in sprints when the mood strikes her, while Bob's Wal in the eight was a former stakes winner at the Gulf, but over the shorter yardage. He did however show all the indications that he would be able to handle this distance. The greyhounds were loaded in the box, with the betting public favoring the two inside dogs- Texas Star off the stakes win and Graceland with five wins showing.

When the box opened, A's Aristotle broke well, along with the seven, Racy Katy, and the four, Button Hole. Meanwhile, the two chalks both got jammed back a little, and although CL Texas Star got into the mix only to be shut off late and fade back to last, U Too Graceland got "all shook up" and called it a night early. As the dogs ran down the front stretch, Aristotle and Katy took turns leading, until they reached the first call. By then, Aristotle was in front by a couple, leaving Katy wondering why she had just run by where the race usually stops for her in a 5/16ths, and Button Hole was losing ground after an encounter with Bob's Wal, who was beginning to show his stuff.

During all of this, San Tan Dog Gone was moving up into third along the rail and driving steadily. The almost three year old brindle bitch out of DK's Prime Time and San Tan Iowa passed the fading Katy going into the last turn and when Aristotle, by now tiring badly, moved off of the inside and into the middle of the track, San Tan Dog Gone went by and looked to be an easy winner as they ran down the stretch. However, Bob's Wal wasn't quite done, and the classy 78 pound red brindle boy, who had been weaving through traffic like a New York cabbie, made a late dash along the innermost part of the track, even inside of Dog Gone. Although he was strong late, he had too much ground to make up. San Tan Dog Gone won the Gulf Greyhound Park Night of Stars route by a half length, Wal was second, Aristotle faded to third, and Button Hole, who finally regained her stride after her back stretch woes, was a fine fourth.

Dog Gone paid off $11 to his supporters and the 5-8 quiniela returned $40 even. The triple of 5-8-6 came back for $533.40 and the superfecta of 5-8-3-4 paid $2,219.60. The Pick Six, which had started in Race 8 at Hollywood with a guaranteed $75,000 pool, was 2-1-5-2-5-5. Nobody had all six, understandable with some of the shocking upsets involved. As a matter of fact, no one even had five, so getting four correct paid off at over $1,700. The Gulf race was the second of three Night of Stars routes, with the last one to be held to the east in Arkansas, where a long standing track record was about to fall.