Jeff Prince
Dec 31, 2019
West Palm Beach, Fl. – Sometimes you know who will win a race a few seconds after the starting box opens. Sometimes you find out the winner as the result of a photo finish.
In the twenty-second running of the $20,000 Dick Andrews Futurity, it may have taken about three seconds after the race began that you knew who the championship blanket would be placed on.
When the starting box opened, it was August Dawn breaking on top and extending his lead to the first turn. As written in the summary of the final, “If August Dawn breaks alertly and garners the early lead, there will be no catching him.”
Now comes the surprises. GV On A Quest, the longest shot on the board at 37-1, outbroke her inside competition and reached the rail, outgunning the undefeated qualifying finalist, RF Oka.
As the finalist raced into the final turn, Atascocita Jarta, going off at 17-1, found room on the inside and secured her spot as the third-place finisher, behind GV On A Quest.
Rounding out the Superfecta was the hard-closing finalist Skiddy Hotrod, who himself went off at 34-1.
August Dawn was victorious by three lengths and traversed the 545-Yard Royal Palm Course in a speedy time of 29.79 seconds, returned a healthy $19.60 to the delight of his supporters.
The newly-crowned champ collected a cool $10,000 for his impressive box-to-wire victory.
The complete order of finish:
1st – 6. August Dawn (Kinda Cruel Red – SG’s Phil Niekro, Rader Racing)
2nd – 3. GV On A Quest (KC And All – GV Jewel Quest, James Douglas)
3rd – 5. Atascocita Jarta (Gigawatt – Atascocita Deja, Suncoast)
4th – 7. Skiddy Hotrod (Dutch Magic – Skiddy Flicker, Lester Raines)
5th - 2. Buyusumnewshoes (Superior Panama – Joy Giovanni, Rader Racing)
6th – 1. Skiddy Hack (Dutch Magic – Skiddy Flicker, Lester Raines)
7th – 4. RF Oka (Chasmo’s Dutch – Superior Megryan, B & B Racing)
8th – 8. Dennis Moment (Kinda Cruel Red – SG’s Phil Niekro, Rader Racing)
The Futurity is named in honor of former PBKC kennel operator, humanitarian and 2004 inductee to the Greyhound Hall of Fame Dick Andrews.