Kansas City: Flying Fabian Wins $30,000 Kansas Bred Sprint at Woodlands Greyhound Track

The finals of the $30,000 Kansas Bred Sprint, held at The Woodlands in Kansas City, Kansas on July 21st, featured an impressive array of early and late speed greyhounds, all whelped in the great state of Kansas. The field was comprised of seven boys and one lone girl, with several of the participants, determined after three rounds of elimination heats, having begun their racing careers at tracks other than The Woodlands. The three dog, Flying Fabian, a big closer who occasionally is able to go to the front in these 1,650 foot sprints, apparently felt that this race was one of those occasions to do so, and no one could catch him when he did, not even the race favorite, WW's Green Apple, who can come faster in the stretch than the cyclone that whisked Dorothy to Oz.

Green apples can make one's stomach quite upset, and WW's Green Apple has the same effect on the opposing handlers of the greyhounds he draws in with. The son of Mulberry Memory was showing eight Woodlands victories in nineteen tries after breaking in at Derby Lane in St. Pete, Florida, with two of those in the Kansas Bred Sprint qualifying rounds. The other heat was a loss by a mere nose, so the bettors made Green Apple the chalk here from the two hole, and rightly so. However, there were plenty of other good choices in this bunch if you were looking for an upset, as there was no shortage of talented greyhounds.

In the one box was BH's Rackem Up, a two-year-old Woodlands star with sixteen wins, a dog that is seemingly always in the mix. Green Apple in the two and Flying Fabian in the three filled the other inside post positions, with Fabian, who had been at West Virginia's Wheeling Downs initially, showing five wins in a row before just failing to run down Nimby Leonard twice in the stakes qualifying. USS San Juan, who had recently increased his owner's bankroll considerably by winning the Great American Greyhound Futurity, was in the four, and although he had made the finals he was not in the best of form for this event, with just one triumph showing in the six racing lines in the program. The aforementioned Nimby Leonard was in the middle, the five, a greyhound that had the ability to grab the lead and then cling to it tenaciously down the stretch. In the six was his full brother, Nimby Leroy, a ten race winner at the Kansas oval that had squeaked into this race with a third in his last elimination round. The only girl at this dance was Flying Tanana in the seven, a December 2005 pup that had just ten career outings before the box opened for this race. Tanana has shown great potential at Wichita Greyhound Park before a move to The Woodlands; making this final at such a young age is an accomplishment in itself. Flying Whoopin rounded out the field in the eight, but by no means was he just filler, as he had taken eleven out of twenty-one after shipping to The Woodlands from Rhode Island's Lincoln Park and could come from behind or go to the lead.

Flying Fabian broke well and managed to outrush this group to the first turn, going into the bend with two lengths on BH's Rackem Up. Although Rackem Up is one tough customer, there was no way he was going to catch as strong a greyhound as Fabian from behind. Fabian pulled away from Rackem Up slowly but steadily as he went down the backside of the Woodlands racing surface, only to have WW's Green Apple emerge from the pack. Apple had cleared in third and gotten past Rackem Up, and now, as he headed into the far turn, the red running machine was just three lengths in back of Fabian. But he was chasing the wrong dog this time, and despite Apple being able to cut the three length advantage in half by the time the pair crossed the finish line, Fabian had won the $30,000 Kansas Bred Sprint in the time of 30.01 seconds.

Green Apple ran second, with Rackem Up holding off Flying Whoopin by a head for the show money. USS San Juan, wound up in fifth, just in front of the Nimby brothers, with Flying Tanana coming in last, but not least. Fabian went off at 6-1 odds and paid $14.40 to win the Kansas Bred, while the 2-3 quiniela came back for $16.20. The winner is a seventy-one pound red male out of Flying Hydrogen and Fuzzys Blueangel, owned by Vince Berland and running for his Flying Eagles Kennel.