The Lodge at Belmont's Greyhound Meet Winds Down

As The Lodge at Belmont's 2007 meet winds down, the New Hampshire dog track has lots going on. It recently ran one of their Miller Lite Stakes races over the 550 yard sprint course featuring the top greyhounds on the grounds, and it also decided its Puppy Stakes champion. The Lodge at Belmont is located near Lake Winnipesauke in the central part of the Granite State in the little town of Belmont, and has been running on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. Both of the aforementioned races ran as part of Saturday night cards, one on August 11th and the other a week later on the 18th.

Flying Linden has been the undisputable fastest and best dog at The Lodge at Belmont this season, at one point looking like he had a good chance to cruise through the entire meet undefeated. This did not happen, as he went into a short but costly three race funk where he ran fourth, third, and then second. In this latest Miller Lite Stakes, held over the 550 yard course, Linden drew the five hole, not the best spot in the world, while the veteran performer Mana Cheeto had the one. Stylin Bahama, who was at one time a Grade B down in Miami's Hollywood Greyhound Park, occupied the two, with MJG White Lite, a recent Grade A shipper from Sarasota that has also run at Naples and Palm Beach Kennel Club, came out of the four. Linden, with his thirteen wins in sixteen Belmont tries, his last two by a combined twenty lengths, had that five box, with Fanatic Escape, a Dodgem By Design progeny, running from the six. Am Marcia Brady, who had gone to the front against Linden the last two times out only to be soundly whipped, wore the seven colors, with Our Nightmare in the eight box, a post position that the black female had not done much from in four prior attempts this meet.

Flying Linden had seemingly righted his ship after his little winless skein, with those two blowout victories as evidence, so the Lodge gamblers made him the overwhelming pick at sixty cents to the dollar. However, Stylin Bahama decided that she would look very fashionable in front of this field, and she came out and established the lead at once, with Mana Cheeto in pursuit. Linden couldn't get over to his preferred spot on the rail right away and this allowed the dogs in front to run out to a huge advantage, and the Lodge's leading race winner had to settle for a distant fourth. Bahama won handily over Mana Cheeto, by six full lengths, in 31.42 with Our Nightmare coming in third. Stylin Bahama is trained by Michelle Lussier for the Yankees Kennel. The next time out Bahama ran seventh, beaten by Linden by eleven, as Linden got up by a neck at the wire over RX Flame. Linden then ran in the eighth race on the 18th and annihilated his peers by ten, the twelfth time this meet he has won a contest by seven or more lengths.

The Puppy Stakes, sponsored by Pepsi, went to DW Black Smoke, who had done quite well in the eliminations with two wins and a second. Chorus Road had looked mighty tough in the first two qualifying rounds, winning by seven and then nine before being blocked in Round Three and running fourth. She went off the chalk in the finals at 9-5 but failed to fire, coming in fifth, while Black Smoke ran down the fading Winta Storm and held off a flying C's Rocky, a pup that really improved in the prelims after coming off a brief stretch on the route. Black Smoke is a June 2005 son of Jimbo Scotty, trained by the aforementioned Michelle Lussier, who had herself quite a week sending greyhounds out to run with instructions to take no prisoners.