Tampa, Florida: Bluecollar Buddy Excels in Tampa Greyhound Park Future Champions Preview

Tampa Greyhound Park opened up its new meet on July 1st, with the first order of business being the running of the Future Champions Preview, a stakes race with all Maiden puppies in it. Tampa Greyhound Park used to run a dual meet with Derby Lane, located in nearby St. Petersburg, but both tracks have switched to a year-round racing time-table and the Future Champions Preview is the first stakes on the Tampa schedule. This race had greyhounds that were just beginning to break in at Tampa, along with some that had run at other venues around the country but had not won yet. Only one dog in the field had run officially more than twice, and that greyhound, Bluecollar Buddy, used that experience to full benefit in easily taking the Tampa Future Champions Preview.

Now whether or not any of these racers will ever be a future champion is impossible to tell at this point in their young careers, but Bluecollar Buddy certainly likes Tampa more than the 78 pound blue male enjoyed his stay at Palm Beach Kennel Club on the other coast of Florida. In his seven Palm Beach starts, over the shorter 545 yard sprint, Buddy only once hit the paysheet, and that was a fourth place effort. However, at Tampa, Buddy has looked much sharper over 550 yards, or a full 5/16ths of a mile, as the September 2005 Trent Lee- Magic Circle offspring ran a third and a first in his two schooling races prior to the Future Champions event. The one hole sure didn't hurt his chances in this one, as all of his comments indicated an inside bias in his racing style.