Take it Over a Sensation on the Jacksonville Greyhound Scene

Take it Over has taken over Orange Park in Jacksonville, Florida, pushing Rusty the mechanical bunny to his limits. The greyhound has been absolutely dominant after returning from a toe injury that interrupted the beginning of his career, and now Take It Over has run off 3 official wins in a row by a combined country mile. The black brindle male out of Get Over will turn 2 in February and hasn't encountered the top dogs at Orange Park yet, but what he has shown so far in climbing the grading ladder is speed to burn, meaning the upper echelon racers should be getting a little edgy.

For instance, in his grade C triumph on January 17th, Take It Over made a 30.41 second tour of the 550 yard sprint course, faster even than the Grade A race won by 2-1 chalk Pat C Lake Aspen in 30.84. In that race he broke well from the 4 hole and made the turn on top, steadily drawing away from his competitors to win by almost 9 lengths. And this was his smallest margin of victory yet, as his previous trio of races resulted in wins by 12, 17, and 15! When you compare the 30.28 time he turned in on the 12th in a 15 length Grade D romp to the next best time on the card, a 30.61 in the feature top grade event, you can see that there is something afoot down in Orange Park.

Afoot is the key word here, perhaps 2 words to be more precise. Take It Over debuted at Jacksonville this past August, but the 71 pound male looked nothing like the current version does now. This was due to a toe injury that he had suffered as a puppy, and although he was competitive as a Maiden against other youngsters, running in the money in 5 of his 6 initial outings, it was decided that it would be for the best if the troublesome toe was removed from the foot. Take It Over had surgery to lop off the toe, not an uncommon practice at all with racing greyhounds, and he made his return to the track as 2008 began, but now looking more like Sandra Bullock than Sandra Bernhardt, if you catch my drift.

The stunning transformation is now the buzz of the dog track in Jacksonville, which is about to begin its qualifying for the $50,000 Orange Park Derby. Take It Over has never run that far and therefore will not be entered in the 660 yard affair, but every time he goes to post more and more eyes from the world of greyhound racing are going to be on him. He will certainly encounter some bad racing luck along the way, as no greyhound ever has been immune to such things as a bad break or the traffic at the turn that can quickly sideline a win streak, no matter how much talent you possess. However, he stopped the clock with the second fastest time of the current meet with his 30.28 adventure, so it is obvious that Take It Over will be a tough customer if he gets his nose in front of the pack. He is moving up in class every time he runs, but something tells me that the Orange Park sprinters may wind up worrying more about him being in a race with them than he does about facing off with the track's best.

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