No doubt last year's winner of the James J Patton Marathon would be one of the favorites headed into this year's event, but I doubt if anyone thought that she would be as impressive as she has been so far in the stakes.

Racheal Lee has taken it to a whole other level so far in 2009 as she has dominated fields from off the pace to run off alone for the victories. In the first round she by five lengths and in the second round she back that win up with another impressive run in race 7. Here she broke closer and chased to the escape turn, where she took command. Down the backside, on the lead, it was going to get UGLY before the finish line. Drawing away for fun she left the rest of the field in her wake as she cruised to an easy 7 length victory in the quickest time of the night, 44.19 seconds. Next best was Eds Go For It with another strong chasing effort and Gil's Maryland got back on track and was right there in the photo with Go For It, in third. Completing the superfecta was Sunsand Violet, who set the early pace, was outrun late, and settled way back for 4th. Rounding out the field was Bbr Off Season in 5th and Pat C Napless in 6th. Uss Out Of Sight and Mrl Platinum were scratched.

DQ's other entry didn't do that shabby either as 2008 All-American Penny Candy posted up her second victory in two efforts over the 770 yard course in race 11. Here Penny broke close and really had to rush hard to the first turn to get control of this race. There she split the early leaders and cleared thru the turn on the front end. From that point on, she was in cruise control as she coasted all the way to the wire for the easy 3.5 length victory. Here 44.45 was nowhere near close to Racheal Lee's time and if she wants to take home the win in the next couple of rounds, she is going to have to step it up a bit to beat her. Kudos to the puppy Kiowa Fuzzy Fern who held the early lead in this race from the starting box and even after she was outrun to the turn, she didn't give up. She just kept on pulling along and actually closed a bit on the leader in the stretch. She gets some valuable points with another strong 770 yard effort. Hallo Cable Boy did what he does best in this race, he closed throughout and came from way off the pace to get up into the money at the finish line. Granted he was still a ways back from the winner, but his never give up or never give in attitude makes him a joy to watch run around the oval. Glo's Legend completes the superfecta with a big early rush and a steady fade throughout this effort. Rounding out the field was Git N Moody in 5th, Jeansitittowinit in 6th, Kl's Frannie in 7th and Trial Notice in 8th.

The best race to watch came in the 9th as the top 3 finishers were all within a length of each other at the wire. This was a barnburner from the get go. Everyone broke fairly well in this effort and it was a herd at the 1st turn. By the finish line the first time around all of the competitors were within about 5 lengths from each other. There were 4 wide near the lead and Gs Rambo showed that he was a bit faster to that point than anyone else. Cruising thru the escape turn and on to the backstretch Rambo had stole away a couple of lengths over Deco Insta Hart and the rest of this field, but by the far turn first round winner Xtra Style had started to make her move. As they turned for home Rambo's lead had shrunk and Insta Hart and Xtra Style were both stocking just a length or so behind. The closer and closer that they crept to the wire the closer and closer the three of them became. Rambo still leader, Style closing, Insta Hart right there, it was going to be an exciting finish. All three drove across the wire together and a photo was going to have to separate them. Coming out on top in the thriller was Xtra Style a head better than Gs Rambo and a length better than Deco Insta Hart. Fourth was Lover Girl Bambi who overcome some early trouble and closed up well in the stretch. Coming in 5th was It's Gonnahappen, 6th was Just One Night and 7th was early leader, Ethereal Prize. Pat C Petula was scratched.

The field will be cut down for the Semi-Finals as 2 fields of greyhounds will be vying for a spot in the elite 8 on Saturday Evening July 4th at the Orange Park Kennel Club. The finals of this event will run in conjunction with our Scratch-Off promotion here at the Orange Park Kennel Club on Saturday Evening July 11th, 2009.