Seldom Told winner of the 2015 King & Queen Stake Race and Greyhound of the Week! Congratulations!
Click to view Seldom Told’s Win.
(photo: left to right) TGA Executive Director, Nick James; Ron Godfroy, GGP Racing Secretary; Trainer Craig Edwards, D.Q. Williams Kennel; Assistant Trainer Christina Chambers, D.Q. Williams Kennel; Anthony Edwards; Sally Briggs, GGP General Manager; Paul Watt, TGA Director
It’s no secret that Seldom Told from D.Q. Williams Kennel is one of the best greyhounds currently at Gulf Greyhound Park. There are some that would argue that the 85-pound black son of Trent Lee – Need a Date is one of the finest athletes ever to compete on the racing oval in La Marque, Texas for owner Sharon Williams and trainer Craig Edwards. That argument can be saved for another day as the resume` continues to grow with one accomplishment after another. Time and time again, Seldom Told has been featured as the Greyhound of the Week but this week’s honors have more meaning by winning his first opportunity in stakes competition and taking the crown in the King & Queen Stakes Championship sponsored by the Texas Greyhound Association and Gulf Greyhound Park.
It was a mere three weeks ago when we last visited Seldom Told who was in the midst of a three race winning streak. That streak would increase to four in a row on Saturday evening January 31st with one of the best efforts in his career going immediately to the front end and demolishing another top grade field by 6½ lengths in a speedy time of 29.71 seconds.
Next up was the Kings qualifying round on Saturday evening February 7th with a formidable test as Seldom Told would be battling an excellent field of male athletes including two of the top superstars on the Texas Gulf Coast, Sakkara Bowie from Lingle Kennel and Atascocita Kosta from Libby Racing Kennels. Despite drawing a difficult #6 post position, the fans did not shy away from Seldom Told and his four race winning streak tagging him as the 3/5 race favorite. As the 550-yard starting box opened, Seldom Told had plenty of room to maneuver as #5 KB’s Thermo King from K-Rod Kennel slashed to the rail and #7 Kells Diablo from Lingle Kennel broke a step slow but things tightened up quickly as Seldom Told was pinched backwards at the first turn between #4 Atascocita Kosta and #8 JSK Jungle from Cityboy Racing. There was now some work to do and for a brief moment, there were thoughts as Seldom Told was still in fifth place entering the far turn that this could possibly be the first time in his career that Seldom Told would fail to earn a purse check. Fortunately those thoughts were erased quickly as Seldom Told worked his way through traffic to finish in second place and punch his ticket into the Championship finals as Sakkara Bowie sprinted away to the victory.
The post-position draw for the finals on Valentine’s Day February 14th was unkind placing Seldom Told in the black colors of the #5 racing blanket but still drew all of the attention from the fans as the even money favorite. It was a feeling of “de-ja-vu” in the early going as Seldom Told once again found loads of room to get started as the Queens qualifying round winner, #6 Ruff Tuff Babe from K-Rod Kennel exploded to the lead with #8 Sakkara Bowie in hot pursuit and another slow beginning from #7 Kells Diablo. Seldom Told took full advantage of the opening to rush up into a perfect third place stalking position around the first turn. Swinging out to the middle of the racetrack, Seldom Told began his run to glory passing Sakkara Bowie around the far turn and then continued his sweeping move past Ruff Tuff Babe at the top of the stretch to run off into the history books with a three length victory in a time of 29.86 seconds.