Phoenix, Arizona: Phoenix Greyhound Park Rematch Has Familiar Result

When greyhounds are loaded into the starting boxes for a race, they obviously have no way of realizing if one is more important than another. That is left up to their handlers and the betting public. On July 15th at Phoenix Greyhound Park, four dogs that had run against each other the week before in the finals of the Phoenix Sprint Championship met in the Grade AA feature, with considerably less on the line. However, the chance was there for some sort of measure of revenge for those beaten by Coldwater Torres in that $10,000 stakes final, but once again the superstar of the desert would have none of it, but just barely.

Torres was in the eight box for this particular race, as opposed to the five hole he had broken cleanly from in the finals. In that contest, he had soundly beaten Black May, Gilderoylockhart, and Kay Peyote Pearl, and here they were in the same field once more with a chance to make amends to their supporters. Black May had been the second choice in the Phoenix Sprint, behind only Torres, who has rung up fifty-two wins in sixty-six Phoenix outings. But Black May never had a chance to get going in the big race, as she was in trouble from the get go and finished last. Could she give a much better showing if she had a clean run? This was the question to be answered, perhaps, in the July 15th venture.

Black May is no slouch herself, as the three-and-a-half year old black bitch out of Ole No Limits and WD's Garland has won thirty-eight times, most of those top grade tilts, in her eighty-three times to post. This rematch in the Arizona night would come down solely to these two fine racers, with Torres in the far outside and Black May right next to the fawn son of WW Time Warp, wearing the colors of the seven blanket. When the box opened, Torres was out like a flash, but unlike the last time the pair hooked up, Black May made a sharp getaway as well and was able to follow him into the turn cleanly in second place.

This contest might as well have been a match race at this point. The rest of the field had a hard time keeping pace with the speedy duo in front of them; only Gilderoylockhart and Kay Peyote Pearl would stay within five lengths of them, running third and fourth respectively. Torres had won almost every race he has at Phoenix Greyhound Park by opening up a lead so large that nobody could make the entire thing disappear, and on this occasion he would need each and every one of the four lengths that he put between himself and Black May with his blazing early foot, unmatched by any other greyhound competing in Arizona .

When the greyhounds made it to the far turn, you could plainly see that Black May was finally beginning to gain ground. Slowly at first and then more quickly, the greyhound that had won a dozen races this meet at Phoenix was melting away the margin that Torres had built up. As the two approached the finish line, with Black May running on the rail and Torres a bit more towards mid-track, each and every stride brought May closer to her quarry, but in the end she ran out of yardage. The line couldn't come quick enough for Torres, but it finally did, and the Phoenix timer was stopped at 30.39 seconds, way faster than any other winning clocking that evening. Black May lost by the length of her head, but was easily the first to where the lure swings in, which probably means more to these dogs than we humans will ever know.