Kiowa Willowwisp Edges Coldwater Torres for National Greyhound Wins Title

Kiowa Willowwisp's 45 victories in greyhound races led all dogs in the United States in 2007, barely edging the 44 that Coldwater Torres put up. Kiowa Willowwisp ran every one of her races at Flagler Greyhound Park near Miami, except for one official start at Mardi Gras Racetrack. Her win in that race proved to eventually be the difference between her being tied with Torres, who raced exclusively at Phoenix Greyhound Park out in Arizona. However, for the sake of argument, one could say that neither of these greyhounds is the North American wins champion, as Hallo Old Spice, running at Mexico's Caliente Greyhound Park, had 57 wins in 2007.

Caliente is a lesser track than either Flagler or Mardi Gras, but Hallo Old Spice's achievement cannot be overlooked. The brindle male out of Craigie Whistler went to post nearly 100 times for the calendar year, coming out on top those 57 times. Past North American wins leaders have run at least part of the year at Caliente, so officially one must recognize Old Spice's numbers if you consider the entire continent's greyhound racers.

The battle for the American wins crown went right down to the wire. Coldwater Torres had a spectacular year in 2007, including a pair of Night of Stars wins, the Phoenix Sprint Championship title, and a wonderful 19 race winning streak. The fawn male out of WW Time Warp and Hey Bell Dancer only turned 3 in November, and his 72 career triumphs has him just 28 short of the magical 100 wins plateau, the equivalent of 3,000 base hits for a baseball player. Torres usually ran once per week and his style of flying to the lead and opening up down the backstretch served him well. Incredibly, in his 53 trips to post at Phoenix, Torres failed to make the front in the race by the first turn just 5 times. He did not hit the board in only 3 of those 53 efforts, each time as the overwhelming favorite in the race he was entered in.