Raynham, Massachusetts: Winning Joker Victorious in Raynham Derby

It looked like perhaps Willy Fix It held all the cards going into the Raynham Derby Saturday night, August18th, at Raynham Greyhound Park in Raynham, Massachusetts. The eighty pound brindle male had gone through the trio of elimination rounds undefeated over the 660 yard route distance and the Raynham faithful made him the 8-5 favorite at the betting windows to take the crown. However, there was one card still left in the deck that Fix It and the handicappers overlooked, and it proved to be a joker, as Winning Joker came from off the pace and romped away with the Raynham Derby.

Willy Fix It had been the second best sprinter at Raynham as of late, behind only the great Pat C Clement in stature, before moving to the 3/8ths of a mile Derby distance for a shot at this stakes. A pair of one holes certainly did nothing to hurt his chances in the first two qualifying heats, as he won them both with little trouble. In Round Three, Willy drew a seven hole, but any thought that he may have problems getting around from there were banished when he broke right to the front and won going away by seven. In the Raynham Derby finals, Willy had the same seven box, and the patrons figured if it ain't broke, don't Fix It.

In the one was four and a half year old Neelie, a gallant veteran female that is an all-or-nothing type; she had saved some of her best races for this competition, winning two eliminations. Worldclass Gina drew the two hole, another bitch that needed the front and had just missed going three for three herself in the prelims, only getting caught by Fuzzys Gamma Ray in the second round. Gamma Ray was in the three, having fallen in his last start after taking his first two qualifying heats. He was deemed sound by the racing judges on August 15th, as Raynham is one of the few tracks in the nation that makes greyhounds that have fallen in official races hand slip a few days later while officials hand time them to ensure that they are indeed worthy of getting right back on the track.

Winning Joker had the green four blanket on his back, as the 71 pound March 2004 son of Teamster and No Luck Needed had been a force in the first two eliminations before running fifth in the final one. His 37.61 in Round One was the fastest clocking of the whole competition, and Joker, who was just returning to the route after having not been on this distance for eighteen months, looked like he had been running them right along. Joker broke in at Raynham in October of 2005 and had soon been put in the longer races. He did just fine there before he went back to the sprints, where he performed so well that he was able to win four Grade A 550 yarders in a row in the spring of 2006 before a May injury sidelined him until October. Another injury took him out of action until just this June, and Joker had run himself back into shape just in time for the Raynham Derby.

Another converted sprinter, Royal Reverie, was a solid threat to win this race from the five hole, since the red male had shown lots of closing ability over the route in the qualifying, as twice he had come from behind to win. Starz Tamatha occupied the six, the youngest in the field at barely two, showing a win and two close place finishes in her Derby lines. Fix It had that seven hole, with only Comeback Classic outside of him, a female that always lived up to her name, rallying from her typical poor starts to come flying home in the stretch.

Right from the get-go things went bad for Willy, as Worldclass Gina bolted to the lead followed by Tamatha. Fix It cleared in third, but Joker was right behind him and making noise, quickly passing Willy and going after the leaders. Without the front, Fix It failed to show his stuff, and he would wind up in sixth on this night, caught by some of the big closers right at the wire. In the meantime, Joker rushed through the curtain turn and down the backside, making quick work of Gina and Tamatha, taking over the lead by two lengths by the time he reached the far turn and drawing away steadily to win the Raynham Derby by five and a half in 38.38 seconds. Gina folded her tent and ran seventh by ten, beating only Neelie, who must have decided she had gotten herself into something a little over her head at this point in her career. Tamatha kept running hard after Joker passed her and easily held off a hard-charging Royal Reverie for second place. Reverie was third, three lengths better than the late trying Comeback Classic and Gamma Ray, who went over the line in fourth and fifth respectively.

Despite being a chalk in his last two prelims, Joker went off at $8.50 on the dollar, returning $19.00 to win, as the joke was on the gamblers. The 4-6 quiniela combo came back for $50, with the 4-6-5 triple, the middle of the field, paying out at $782.00. Winning Joker is trained by Manny Sarras for the Fast Track Kennel, and who could have blamed Manny if he shed a tear or two in private once he got Joker, who had overcome a pair of long injury layoffs to finally grab a big brass ring, back to the friendly confines of his kennel?