Three of the Top 3/16ths of a Mile Greyhounds in the Nation

Palm Beach Kennel Club, Naples-Ft. Myers Greyhound Park, and Raynham Greyhound Park feature the exciting 330-yard dash. All of these facilities run the 3/16ths of a mile dash with regularity, and they all have a greyhound on the grounds that is the best at these quick 17-second races. Palm Beach has a dog named Wizardy that is currently its top dasher, Naples has an almost unbeatable greyhound called Barts Cyclonic that dominates its 3/16ths, and Raynham's Railway Tavern is the quickest greyhound in the state of Massachusetts.

The 3/16ths dash is run from the far end of the first turn for a normal 550 yard contest, with the greyhounds running down the backstretch before going into the far turn, the only corner they have to negotiate before heading down the stretch and driving home. Obviously it is important then to be near the front of the event, as it is next to impossible to make up many lengths in so short a span versus greyhounds that are not winded. The tracks that run the 330 yarders often see greyhounds that tire late in the sprints moved to that distance, in the hopes that they can establish a career in the shorter races where their speed can easily hold up.

This wasn't really the case with Naples-Ft. Myers star Barts Cyclonic, as the 2 ½ year old male out of Grey's Flamebeau had gone to Grade A in short order over 550 yards after arriving in Florida from Bluffs Run in Iowa. Cyclonic had even won a full-length top level sprint right before his switch to the dash, but he has been so formidable in the short race that there has been no doubting the move. Cyclonic has taken 26 of the 37 330 yard affairs he has been entered in, at one point compiling a 9 race winning streak, exceptional for a distance where there is such a miniscule margin for error. In a race where greyhounds rarely win by more than 3 lengths, Bart's Cyclonic has won 10 times by at least 4, with a 9 length domination resulting in his fastest tour of the 990 feet, a 16.48 last November 23rd.

Palm Beach Kennel Club on the opposite coast of Florida runs several 3/16ths each week, and no one greyhound truly dominates this event, but as of late Wizardry has been something special. The red male will be 3 this May, and when he debuted at Palm Beach last spring he often ran out of gas over the 545 yard sprints. He was placed in the shorter contest and has stayed there, winning more than his share of Grade A affairs. In his last 5 starts, he has emerged the victor 4 times, with the only blemish a loss by a neck to a dog named Audacious, who was one of the sharpest dashers at Iowa's Dubuque Greyhound Park before it ended its meet last fall. Twice Wizardy has posted a rapid 16.60 clocking for the dash, his best time on the distance.

Heading north to Raynham in Massachusetts, you can follow the exploits of Railway Tavern the premier short race star of that oval. Railway Tavern won almost half of his 32 starts last year, compiling 15 triumphs, with a dozen of those, including 9 straight, contested over 330 yards. The black male is out of Stan's Boy Flyer and turned 2 last August; he already has triumphed in 3 of 5 dashes this year and goes off the prohibitive favorite each time out. Like the other pair of stars mentioned in this article, Railway Tavern's success is based on his ability to break alertly and go into the only bend in the lead. A 17.56 time is his fastest, as the Raynham racing surface is considerably slower than the 2 down in the Sunshine State, but there is nothing slow about this trio of exceptional greyhounds.

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