Mac's Trudeaux rides the rail to the National Championship!

Just when it looked like Southland Park was about to have two consecutive national champions, TriState’s representative, Mac’s Trudeaux, began his backstretch drive and took aim at the pace-setting Konomi. With every stride Trudeaux inched closer to Konomi, and finally caught him in the deep stretch to capture the WatchandWager Naples 550 National Championship race. It was an outstanding performance by the 74 lb. brindle male who accomplished what few, if any, have accomplished- that is to pass Konomi in the stretch. The time of the race was a swift 30.09.

Owned by Patrick Mc Millon and handled at the Naples track by the Jade Feise Kennel, Mac’s Trudeaux takes back to the country roads West Virginia’s first national champion. Bob Hardison also left southwest Florida proud of his classy performer, Konomi.The 3 and ½ year old Konomi certainly showed why he has been one of Southland Park’s premier greyhounds over the past year or so.

JD Revelation (IGP/NFM) ran a nice race and closed some to finish third. JSK Lubbock (WD), despite being blocked in the first turn,recovered and ran fourth. MW’s T Rex (PB)who broke quickly from the two box finished fifth, and was followed by race favorite Duxbury (PB), RF Hydra (IGP/NFM) and Jiminy Reno (DL). The latter three all ran into trouble in the first turn.

With the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track as the new venue, and WatchandWager as the title sponsor, the 550 was again a huge success. A jam packed clubhouse, with all but one of the participating greyhound owners present, watched the fourth running of United Greyhound Racing’s 550 national championship race. Though the crowd downstairs in the grandstand was large, it certainly would have been even larger if there weren’t scattered showers in the area all day. Despite the less than ideal weather, handle for the Saturday evening performance doubled over the usual track handle.

Mac’s Trudeaux, born May, 2016, is out of Kiowa Mon Manny and Mac’s Needlenose. He joins an elite list of greyhounds that have claimed the national championship title. Previous winners were the All-American’s Husker Magic, Need My Moneynow and Oaks Maddy.