Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center is a greyhound track that also has slot machines, meaning that the dogs run for some of the highest purses in the United States since a percentage of the slot money goes into them. Wheeling Island offers many distance races each week in their seven performances, and naturally, with this much money at stake, some of the country’s best 3/8ths and 7/16ths of a mile racers are on the grounds. This article will feature ten of the top distance racers at Wheeling Island that run over the 678 yard and 761 yard courses at the West Virginia dog track, located on an island in the Ohio River.
Scoot It Over will be four this October, and even though the brindle male was sidelined for much of the latter part of 2006, he has returned as dangerous as ever in Wheeling Island’s 3/8ths races. Scoot It Over is very quick out of the starting box, and although it is possible to run him down, more often than not when he obtains the lead he wins. Scoot It Over won seven 3/8ths in a row at Wheeling Island last February through March, and he has a pair of wins and second place finishes so far in 2007.
Whaling Wildfire is another Wheeling Island veteran that flashes early foot and then coasts home on the 3/8ths course. This red brindle male is a few months older than Scoot It Over, and also had some time off last year with an injury before coming back to Wheeling Island to compete. Whaling Wildfire is almost always in the mix early in a race, but since coming back he has struggled to regain the form that saw him record 20 triumphs in 2006 against Wheeling Island’s best. Still, Whaling Wildfire is a solid middle distance greyhound that is very capable of leading everyone home on any given day.
Cs Bosco came to Wheeling Island from the Woodlands in Kansas and has been a presence since his arrival back in September of 2006. Bosco, a brindle male who won’t turn three until June, can go to the lead or occasionally come from behind, and has done both so far this year while posting two wins and a second. Kay Looking Good, on the other hand, never, and I do mean never, goes to the lead in the Wheeling Island middle distance races. This diminutive 54 pound fawn female has not gotten any closer than fifth to the first turn in any 678 yard race she has run in at Wheeling Island and is routinely last or next to last before unleashing one of the most powerful closing kicks in the nation. Looking Good doesn’t win that often since she starts so slowly, but this year has a pair of heart-pounding victories in which she made the turn in fifth place and still won going away by four lengths both times.
Speaking of a ferocious late kick, the 64 pound female named Heights has one. This recently-turned three-year old brindle girl has a running style similar to Kay Looking Good, except that she has the ability to get much closer to the leaders earlier in the competition. Her two wins in 2007 were from behind, but in one she actually cleared second before running down the dog in front of her. Opalescent, a red fawn female that broke in at Southland in Arkansas before plying her trade at Wheeling Island, may be the hottest 3/8ths racer at the oval right now, having won her last two and not finishing worse than fourth in over a month. Opalescent has early and late speed and can also switch every now and then over to the 761 yard marathon distance and steal one.
The competition over the marathon course is fierce at Wheeling Island, as the track runs more of these races than most establishments, much to the delight of the betting public, which always clamors to see longer races. Wheeling Island obliges with the likes of the black female Let’s Get Real, which has been marathon racing exclusively since last fall when she came to Wheeling from the Jacksonville/Orange Park circuit. Let’s Get Real needs to be in the front to win and can be caught, but she has displayed amazing consistency over this distance, finishing worse than fourth place just once since November 15th.
Nickel Drive was a solid 3/8ths stalwart at Southland and then at Wheeling Island when her handlers tried her on the marathon distance and she has won a trio of her ten appearances at the longer yardage. Nickel Drive likes to go way to the front and then try to hang on, and so far the brindle bitch has shown she can handle the challenge. Nickel Drive won’t be one until February of 2008, technically. The catch is she was a Leap Year baby, with a February 29th, 2004 birthday!
Another greyhound at Wheeling Island that was born on a special day is Magic Trixie, who was whelped on New Year’s Eve of 2003. This brindle female dominated the distance racing at neighboring Tri-State Greyhound Park, also in West Virginia, winning nine races in a row over both 3/8ths and 7/16ths before coming to Wheeling. Trixie scored wins in her first five marathons at Wheeling before encountering a defeat, but a two-month layoff with a minor injury took some of the sharpness off of her racing. However, Trixie still has what it takes to make her patented late run at the dogs in the front of the pack and is always one of the betting favorites when she goes to post.
Gable Nextel is a red male youngster who absolutely blew away the other dogs over the 3/8ths course at Wheeling Island before being sidelined from Labor Day until right before Christmas. When he came back, he had a bit of rust and was tried on the marathon, over which he has won his last two outings, including a seven length romp on January 24th. Nextel is 76 pounds of trouble for any Wheeling Island distance racer to contend with over the next months. The distance action at Wheeling island is among the best in the greyhound world, and these ten dogs will be mixing it up throughout 2007.
