2025 All Wheeling Team Selected

2025 all-Wheeling team selected, FF Vespa captain

By Stan Pawloski

            FF Vespa has been selected captain of the 2025 all-Wheeling team.

            The Code Red Kennel sprint star, owned by Joe Fusaro and Philip Carpenter and trained by Tom Engle, won 28 races at Wheeling Island last year to take the track win championship. Of his 28 wins, 27 were in Grade AA.

            An April 2022 greyhound out of Atascocita Gray-FF Biscayne, FF Vespa had a 6-race and a 4-race win streak during the 2025 season. He hit the superfecta in 82 percent of his races and had a 77 percent trifecta finish.

            Three kennels placed two greyhounds each on the 10-unit team.

            Calmbefordastorm and JS Prettyboyswag were selected from the Lester Raines Kennel; WW Let’s Getiton and WW Look Out were picked from the Wayne Ward Kennel; and Believethehype and Topcommand earned spots from the Jacobs Racing Kennel.

            Rounding out the honorees are Imark Kinslee, Imark Kennel; XMC Honey Bean, Xtrem Hess Racing Kennel; and DD’s See Ya Soon, Steve Sarras Kennel.

            FF Vespa and Imark Kinslee are the lone repeat picks in 2025.

            The all-Wheeling team was selected by local greyhound historian Robin Reed and Pawloski.

            The criteria used to determine the selections included number of wins, winning percentage, top grade victories, win streaks, superfecta and trifecta percentage finishes.

            Accomplishments of the all-Wheeling members follow:

FF VESPA, captain (61-28-13-6-3) – track win champion; 27 of 28 victories in Grade AA; had a 6-race and a 4-race win streak; won 10 out of 12 top grade races in one stretch; 82 percent superfecta mark; 77 percent trifecta finish.

CALMBEFORDASTORM (60-27-7-7-8) – second in wins; 24 out of 27 wins in Grade AA; had a 5-race and a pair of 3-race win streaks; 82 percent superfecta mark; 68 percent trifecta record.

WW LET’S GETITON (56-26-7-5-3) – third in wins; 21 out of 26 victories in Grade AA; had a 7-race, a 5-race and a 3-race win streak; won 9 out of 11 races in one streak; 73 percent superfecta mark; 68 percent trifecta mark.

IMARK KINSLEE (69-24-7-6-13) – fourth in wins; 19 out of 24 wins in Grade AA; had a track-leading 9-race win streak and a pair of 3-race streaks; 72 percent superfecta mark; 54 percent trifecta finish.

XMC HONEY BEAN (56-19-7-11-5) –fifth in wins; 18 out of 19 victories in Grade TAA 3/16th; won 4 out of 5 top grade races in one stretch; 75 percent superfecta finish; 66 percent trifecta mark.

DD’S SEE YA SOON (68-16-16-11-12) – 13 out of 16 wins in Grade AA; quadruple double across-the-board in wins, seconds, thirds and fourths; 80 percent superfecta finish; 63 percent trifecta mark.

WW LOOK OUT (59-15-13-11-10) – 13 of 15 wins in Grade TAA 3/8; quadruple double across-the-board in wins, seconds, thirds and fourths; 83 percent superfecta mark; 66 percent trifecta finish.

BELIEVETHEHYPE (60-16-15-7-5) – 9 out of 16 wins in Grade AA; finished in the quiniela in 51 percent of races; 72 percent superfecta finish; 63 percent trifecta mark.

JS PRETTYBOYSWAG (45-15-10-2-9) – out of 15 wins, 5 in Grade TAA 3/8th and 4 in Grade AA 5/16th; had a 6-race win streak; 80 percent mark on the superfecta; 60 percent trifecta finish.

TOPCOMMAND (43-13-8-5-5) – 12 out of 13 wins in Grade AA in only 8 ½ months of racing; had a 4-race win streak; 72 percent superfecta mark; 60 trifecta finish.

            Since the all-Wheeling greyhound team was launched in 2009, there have been 18 repeat selections. The lone three-time all-Wheeling choice was L’s Luv It (Blanchard Kennel) in 2018-19-20.

            Repeat selections, kennels and their years follow:

            -WW’s Dog Gone (Wayne Ward), 2010-11

            -Flesk Flyer (Wayne Ward), 2011-12

            -AMF Ex President (A Ray), 2011-12

            -WWK Win Day (Wayne Ward), 2012-13

            -Go Bon Coaltrain (Vince Berland), 2013-14

            -Whiskey Annie (Valor Racing), 2013-14

            -Atascocita Santo (Lester Raines), 2014-15

            -Barts Outofmyway (Lester Raines), 2016-17

            -Kinda Cruel Red (Jacobs Racing), 2016-17

            -SH Rattler (A Ray), 2017-18

            -L’s Griz (Blanchard), 2018-19

            -JSK Roulette (Jacobs Racing), 2019-20

            -JS Drinkmepretty (Lester Raines), 2019-20

            -RS Big D (Lester Raines), 2021-22

            -Florentine (Steve Sarras), 2022-23

            -Artex Pumbaa (Blanchard), 2023-24