Miami, Florda: Kiowa Reassuring Shocks Kiowa Willowwisp at Flagler Greyhound Park

Kiowa Willowwisp has been almost automatic down at Flagler Greyhound Park in Miami, Florida, winning thirty-six races out of thirty-nine times to post. The national wins leader in the greyhound industry at the moment with thirty-seven, Willowwisp went into her race on Sunday, the 19th of August, with a thirteen race winning streak. So positive were the Flagler patrons that she would win, even though she had a not-so-great post position in the six hole, that they bet her down to a nickel on the dollar, meaning that if you were to wager two dollars on Willowwisp to win the race, you would get back $2.10 if she was successful. Such a proposition makes little sense, and it made even less when Kiowa Willowwisp got beat late, by of all greyhounds, one from her own kennel!

Kiowa Reassuring also runs for the same outfit responsible for Willowwisp, the Steubenville Kennel trained by Dennis Smith. Dennis is a greyhound lifer, and he has seen everything that can happen in a race or a particular meet, good and bad. Since it was not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination, Smith probably got a good laugh at the end of the day when his other entry in the eighth race, Kiowa Reassuring, ran down Willowwisp in the latter stages of the race to snap her skein. Reassuring was shipped in from the very tough Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center earlier this spring, where she was a solid greyhound that ran the routes. Although she never won a AA grade race at Wheeling, Reassuring won fourteen career races at the West Virginia oval, which would translate to many more at a track that had lesser dogs on the grounds.

Running exclusively in the Flagler sprints, Kiowa Reassuring had won five times prior to her huge upset, three of them Grade A tilts. She had displayed a fine closing kick on the 550 yard course, and on occasion she was able to get close enough to the leaders to allow it to carry her to the finish line in front. Against Willowwisp, she found herself right in the mix from the beginning of the contest, as she rushed up from the far outside eight hole and was neck and neck with Willowwisp coming out of the first bend.

There would be no excuses made for Willowwisp on this day, as she broke well and was able to rush through a potential problem halfway down the front stretch and grab the clean lead. However, the greyhound who had won each of her previous baker's dozen by at least five lengths could not shake loose from Reassuring; she was unable to put any kind of a cushion between her and her kennelmate and this would ultimately cost her. One could see that as the dogs entered the far turn and then the stretch that Willowwisp's streak was in dire jeopardy, as it was Reassuring that was striding best and had her lined up on the outside portion of the Flagler racing surface. As the pair came down to the wire, Reassuring easily passed the superstar and probable first team All-American, winning going away by two full lengths in 31.06 seconds. So dominant had Willowwisp been that Reassuring was the second favorite in the race, at the huge odds of 10-1!

Willowwisp's time of 31.18 would have handily won every other race that day, and she finished five lengths in front of the third place greyhound and thirteen in front of the fourth. But Reassuring was just stronger on this particular day, as Willowwisp had been in their only previous encounter back on July 3rd, when she beat her by fifteen lengths in a race that Reassuring ran dead last in. But when you are on the top of the mountain and the best, nobody remembers the details of each of your triumphs. They do recall each and every defeat down to the minutest detail, as New York Yankees' fans can tell you about the saves that the great Mariano Riviera has blown in the post-season. Just as they more than likely couldn't tell you who he struck out to save the plethora of playoff games that he has, Flagler's faithful probably don't have on the tips of their tongues the names of the countless greyhounds Kiowa Willowwisp has left in her dust. What would be wonderful was if we could read the minds of these gallant animals, and learn what was the exchange between Willowwisp and Reassuring when the two met later on that day in the turnout pen.