St. Petersburg, Florida: Derby Lane Greyhound Park Puts on Another Great Performance

The action Saturday evening, June 16th, was fast and furious at Derby Lane Greyhound Park in St. Pete's, Florida, with some of the facility's best greyhound stars battling it out at the premier dog track in the nation. Derby Lane had a pair of 2006 All-Americans on the night card, an up-and-coming Grade A racer that thrilled the crowd with a mind-boggling rush to the wire, a top grade route upset that paid phone numbers, the 2007 Distance Classic champion showing why he will be extremely tough to beat in the upcoming St. Pete's Derby over the 3/8ths course, and a couple of puppies that looked so impressive, they may one day outstrip them all.

In the very first tilt of the night, Castle Princess came blasting out of the four hole in a grade C event and won by eight lengths over the 5/16ths of a mile in 30.50, which would eventually be good for the second quickest clocking of the performance. Princess is an August 2005 youngster out of Craigie Mo Town, and all four of her Derby Lane wins have been of the blowout variety. After it coming very easy in Maiden and D, Princess encountered some growing pains in Grade C and dropped back down, but she has strung a pair of routs together back-to-back and may be on her way to great things. In the third race, another pup, HK's Nacho Libre, broke his Maiden by a similar margin. Nacho Libre has on occasion made his competition at Derby Lane look like a race between Carl Lewis and Jack Black, and as he moves up the grading ladder the August 2005 son of Dodgem By Design will be closely monitored.

In the fourth, an A route, Flying Rugby pulled off an upset at 16-1, defeating the likes of Phenomenal Dream, who has been in the quiniela twenty-five times out of thirty-six outings this year, and Greys Touch Gold, a huge closer who breaks poorly and then flies home. Also in this race was a duo of highly regarded two year olds in Starz Supreme and Kiowa Larrys Run, but Rugby went to the lead and never looked back, running a career best 37.52 over the 660 yards. Touch Gold came from his usual spot, far in the back of the pack, to attain the place spot, with Larrys Run third; the resulting triple paid well over twelve hundred dollars.