Mill-City Kennel's Buzz Slasher came home to victory Saturday night, September 5 in the $25,000 Dairyland Sprint Championship at Dairyland Greyhound Park. The Mill-City speedster cut through the field over the 5/16th mile course to win by three lengths over Tapestry kennel's Dot's Rolly in a time of 30.72 seconds. Oxbow-Trow's Wicked Wink finished third.
Wicked Wink got the early break out of the box, but Dot's Rolly took over the front end as the pack rushed to the first turn. On the backstretch Buzz Slasher began to make his move through the field to second at the top of the stretch pulling ahead and winning by three lengths at the wire.
At $11 to $1, Buzz Slasher surprised the wagering public, who made the top qualifying point leader Kiowa Maybe the race $1.40 to $1 after tallying three wins and a second in qualifying. But trouble in the turn caused the race favorites to get pushed to the back of the pack, while Buzz Slasher had a steady drive through the race.
According to trainer Gary Maresh, he thought his hopeful champ was in
a good spot in the three box.
"I thought the 1 and 2 (Potrs Stone Fort and Wicked Wink) would break
out front and he (Buzz Slasher) would go to the rail right behind them,"
said Maresh. "I was surprised when he (Buzz) went to the outside.
He's a smart dog and he knew where he had to be.
Maresh also felt Buzz Slasher ran the race of his young racing career.
"There were a lot of tough dogs in the race," stated Maresh. "Any dog could have won. It was a real accomplishment for him to be able to run down a dog like Dot's Rolly.
According to Maresh, with Buzz Slasher in his Freshman season, they now have their sights set to the Dairyland Futurity in October.