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Youngsters fuel Wayne Ward surge

In their early years at Wheeling Island, the Wayne Ward Kennel was loaded with an endless list of young sprint stars.

WW Time Warp, Itsjustplaingood, Its A Fancy Tune, WW Accelerator, Flaming Glory, WW Ruff Enough, WW Way Out, Ruff Running, Its Chewbacca, WW Nick Of Time, Luckydeals Honor, WW Apple Jax and Gene’s Champion to name a few.

This year, the glory days have returned.

Sparked by an influx of young talent, the Wayne Ward Kennel is challenging Charter Kennel for the top spot on the win leaderboard. Leading the charge have been littermates Kiowa WW Dot, Kiowa WW Brother, Kiowa WW Son and Kiowa WW Mother; littermates WW Gale Irish and WW Gale Greek; and JJ’s Make Me Rip.

“We’ve had some nice greyhounds break in the past few years, but this is probably the best group of young dogs we’ve had at one time. They’ve helped move us up from the middle of the pack to near the top in a three-month period,” Wayne Ward Kennel trainer Ron Otto said. “Back in November or December, Julia (Ward) said she had some babies who looked promising and these are the dogs. She was right.”

Littermates Kiowa WW Dot, Brother, Son and Mother have turned some heads since breaking in at Wheeling earlier this year. Each of the brothers and sisters won a Grade AA race before turning 2 years old.

The July 2006 greyhounds out of Flying Penske-WW Gale Finance, have combined for 28 wins, 17 seconds, 20 thirds and 6 fourths in 91 starts – a 78 percent mark on the pay sheet.

“I’m very surprised. They looked good in the morning, but I never thought they’d be this good so soon,” Otto said. “I’ve seen two or three littermates all win Grade AA at Wheeling, but not this fast. It doesn’t happen very often.”

Otto said Kiowa WW Dot is the best one out of the foursome, who recently were joined by another brother, Kiowa WW Father, who opened his career at Derby Lane. Dot has 10 wins, 2 seconds, 3 thirds and 2 fourths in 22 starts.

Dot also made the final of the $10,000 Firecracker Sprint in July.

The three other littermates also have been solid contributors to the kennel:

– Kiowa WW Brother: 6 wins, 2 seconds and 8 thirds in 19 starts.

– Kiowa WW Son: 5 wins, 9 seconds, 6 thirds and 1 fourth in 26 starts.

– Kiowa WW Mother: 7 wins, 4 seconds, 3 thirds and 3 fourths in 24 starts.

None of the four rocketed straight up the ladder to Grade AA. Brother was the first and it took him 10 trips.

“They took their time going up the ladder which I like to see all my pups do. Each improved steadily along the way,” Otto said. “The experience they gain makes it a little easier when they get to Grade AA.”

All four littermates like to get out of the box and into their races early.

“If they break in the top three or four, each will give a strong effort,” Otto noted. “I think they will get even better once they get a little older and a few more races.”

The littermates are owned by Julia Ward and Gale Hunt.

WW Gale Irish and WW Gale Greek, October 2006 littermates out of DK’s Prime Time-WW Kiowa Key Kap, also have climbed the ladder to Grade AA. Gale Irish has captured most of the spotlight early in her career, but Otto feels her brother has tons of untapped talent.

Gale Irish also took her time moving up to Grade AA (15 starts). In her first two trips against Grade AA company, she won by 3 and 2 lengths.

“She looked better than Kiowa WW Dot in the morning, but she was so young,” Otto said. “She’s shown she can break and she’s also shown she has a lot of drive.”

In 17 starts, Gale Irish has 6 wins, 4 seconds, 1 third and 2 fourths.

“Those are impressive numbers for a dog her age and moving up the ladder,” Otto said.

Gale Greek has had a couple tough outings in Grade AA after moving up in 10 starts. Overall, he has 5 wins and 2 seconds in 12 trips.

“He’s still green and needs races. I wish it would have taken him longer to reach Grade AA,” Otto said. “When he figures it out, I think he can be scary – maybe even better than his sister.”

Several impressive victories dot Gale Greek’s resume – Maiden by 7 1/2 lengths, Grade C by 7 1/2 lengths, Grade B by 4 1/2 lengths and Grade A by 5 1/2 lengths.

The pair are owned by Ward.

JJ’s Make Me Rip has won nine out of his first 24 career starts, including three in Grade AA. Earlier this month, he posted back-to-back top grade victories.

A June 2006 greyhound out of Pacific Mile-Make Me Crazy, Make Me Rip is “rail as rail can be,” Otto said. “He’s had trouble with outside post positions because he’s turning left right out of the box.”

Make Me Rip was able to win Maiden and Grade D from the seven and eight holes, but his other victories have come from the one (three times), the two (three times) and the three (once) box. In early July, Make Me Rip won three straight races, including two in Grade AA from inside posts.

“When he draws the rail, he’s hard to beat. It will take one of the better dogs at Wheeling to catch him,” Otto said. “He fires out of the box on the inside. If he gets the front early, he has the speed to run with anyone.”

JJ’s Make Me Rip is owned by Jeff Kessler.

Otto also is high on several other youngsters in the kennel, including WW’s Wizard, WW’s Family Guy, WW Can’t Believe, WW’s Valera and Pal WW Wendy. All have made it to Grade AA.

IN THE HOMESTRETCH:

WINNER’S CHALLENGE: The field of 16 greyhounds is being compiled for the upcoming Winner’s Challenge which kicks off Wednesday afternoon, July 30.

The top 16 sprinters with the most wins will comprise the star-studded field. Among the greyhounds expected to compete are Sol Reign, Blazing Chad, Van Do, BD’s Flip, Large Lee, Kiowa Rock Vince, Kiowa WW Dot, Kiowa Rock Cindy, Braska Omni, Silver Jones and BD’s Grayson.

Wheeling Island’s top two winners this year, TK Quick Strike and Starz Supreme, will not be in the field since they are 3/8 runners.

HOT DOGS: Steubenville Kennel’s Kiowa Rock Cindy has three straight Grade AA wins for trainer Debbie Schweizer.

Charter Kennel’s TK Quick Strike has three straight Grade AA 3/8 victories for trainer Rodney Cooley.

Mike Fynmore Kennel’s PTL Burner has three wins in a row (C, B, A) for trainer Chris Burgess. Kennel-mate Exaggerate has back-to-back victories (C, B).

C And C Kennel’s Van Do and Large Lee have back-to-back Grade AA wins for trainer Patrick Bever.

Wayne Ward Kennel’s WW Has Glory has two straight Grade AA marathon victories for trainer Ron Otto.

Darren Henry Kennel’s Braska Omni has two wins and a second in his last three Grade AA races for trainer Donna Wilcox. Kennel-mate Brady Of Ruckus has back-to-back victories (B, A).

Lester Raines Kennel’s USS Race By has two Grade AA wins in a row for trainer Joel Roden.

Flying Eagles-Miner Kennel’s Flying Fabian (AA) and Where’s Christi (B, A) have back-to-back wins for trainer Ricardo Pacheco.

Gable Kennel’s Cry Audrey has two wins and two seconds in her last four races for trainer Wayne Piquette.

Wayne Strong Kennel’s Bella Hembrillo has two wins and a second in her last three outings for trainer Dinna Otto.

WOODLANDS: According to reports out of Kansas, The Woodlands racetrack will be closing in August. Not too long ago, Wichita closed its doors.

Pawloski can be reached at sjpawloski@yahoo.com

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