Kiowa Willowwisp Edges Coldwater Torres for National Greyhound Wins Title

Kiowa Willowwisp's 45 victories in greyhound races led all dogs in the United States in 2007, barely edging the 44 that Coldwater Torres put up. Kiowa Willowwisp ran every one of her races at Flagler Greyhound Park near Miami, except for one official start at Mardi Gras Racetrack. Her win in that race proved to eventually be the difference between her being tied with Torres, who raced exclusively at Phoenix Greyhound Park out in Arizona. However, for the sake of argument, one could say that neither of these greyhounds is the North American wins champion, as Hallo Old Spice, running at Mexico's Caliente Greyhound Park, had 57 wins in 2007.

Caliente is a lesser track than either Flagler or Mardi Gras, but Hallo Old Spice's achievement cannot be overlooked. The brindle male out of Craigie Whistler went to post nearly 100 times for the calendar year, coming out on top those 57 times. Past North American wins leaders have run at least part of the year at Caliente, so officially one must recognize Old Spice's numbers if you consider the entire continent's greyhound racers.

The battle for the American wins crown went right down to the wire. Coldwater Torres had a spectacular year in 2007, including a pair of Night of Stars wins, the Phoenix Sprint Championship title, and a wonderful 19 race winning streak. The fawn male out of WW Time Warp and Hey Bell Dancer only turned 3 in November, and his 72 career triumphs has him just 28 short of the magical 100 wins plateau, the equivalent of 3,000 base hits for a baseball player. Torres usually ran once per week and his style of flying to the lead and opening up down the backstretch served him well. Incredibly, in his 53 trips to post at Phoenix, Torres failed to make the front in the race by the first turn just 5 times. He did not hit the board in only 3 of those 53 efforts, each time as the overwhelming favorite in the race he was entered in.

Unfortunately for Coldwater Torres, who runs for the Gray Kennel and is trained by Brandy Vargas, one of those times he didn't get to the lead in a race was on December 21st, when he cleared second and finished third. That ultimately cost the standout a chance to be tied for the wins crown, something that has occurred 5 times in the past. Kiowa Willowwisp, who was almost bulletproof at Flagler before a minor injury sidelined her in mid-October, came back in late December to pick up her last 2 wins of 2007, the final one coming on New Year's Eve, by 6 lengths.

Willowwisp had win streaks of 16 and 13 races in a row, the former setting a new Flagler record. The June 2004 Craigie Whistler-Kiowa Tom Long product is a beautiful brindle female owned by Pauline O'Donnell and Bryan Dalton, running out of the Dennis Smith trained Steubenville outfit at the Miami oval. In 51 tries at Flagler, plus the one at Mardi Gras, Kiowa Willowwisp only missed the board twice, winning 45 times and running second in 4. Her slowest winning time over the 550 yards print all year was 31.19 seconds, and she won by at least 5 lengths on 39 of those occasions- almost Tom Brady type numbers!

Willowwisp has started 2008 in similar fashion, crushing a pair of fields by a combined 19 lengths in her first 2 starts of the New Year. These wins gave her 67 in 83 attempts at Flagler, Mardi Gras, and Wheeling Downs. At three and a half years old, she needs to keep up her current pace to attain her 100 wins, which she could do by the end of the year if she stays healthy, as long as she duplicates her feat from 2007. Another national wins title wouldn't be out of the question then, nor would the possibility of it once again coming down to the wire with Coldwater Torres!

http://www.ngagreyhounds.com/