Final Round of the $50K James W Paul Derby at Palm Beach Saturday Afternoon February 23, 2013

Final Round of the $50K James W Paul Derby

Race 12 will be the final round and determine the winner of this route series.

#3 Verdun is the morning line favorite at 3-1.  Last round's favorite, #2 WWK Payless Shoes is listed at 9-2 as are #5 TK Takin Chances and #6 Prime Suspect. While I think that Verdun and WWK Payless Shoes are probably the ones to beat, I can't help but wonder whether #5 Takin Chances will take the lead like he did two races back, when he won by 9 lengths. If he does, this race could be his.

#1 Palm City Pamela could go off at a nice price, judging by her morning line odds of 9-1. She's classy and loves the inside, so I wouldn't count her out, especially for exotics. She's had two outside boxes lately, and still managed to come in second from the 7 in her next to last race.

#4 Nidette looks to be in over her head here, although she did post a 37.94 two races back in B, when she beat Palm City Pamela.

#6 Prime Suspect has a bad box for routes, but I expect that he'll be closing in the stretch, as usual. Whether he can reach the leaders is debatable though from this post.

#7 Murray Mauler is a longshot and I think it's for good reason. I do give him credit for being able to score both from the inside and the outside. This is greyhound racing, so I won't say it's impossible for him to win, but it is unlikely for a solid B dog to beat dogs that have been competing in SA.

#8 Atascocita Tiera is very classy and can run from the outside. While her times haven't been very impressive lately, I'd include her in exotics.