Hinsdale, Thursday, September 16th -  Five dogs crossed the finish wire nearly simultaneously in the 11^th race at Hinsdale Greyhound Park & OTB on September 16, resulting in a racing rarity of two separate dead heats for the first four finish positions.

Track officials could not recall a similar scenario ever occurring in the track’s 31-year history of greyhound racing.

      Comet’s Tale, Zip About, UMR Ms Lizzie, Oop’s Its Cathy and Arno’s Tattaglia—five members of the eight-greyhound field—all hit the finish wire at what, to the naked eye,  appeared to be the exact same moment in race 11 on the matinee card.

     But the photo-finish camera that triggers a digital image of the dogs as they cross the wire revealed that Comet’s Tale and Zip About finished in an exact tie for first.

     Although a dead heat itself is not uncommon, the rarity occurred when the same digital image also revealed a separate dead heat for the next two closest greyhounds, UMR Miss Lizzie and Oop’s Its Cathy.

Arno’s Tattaglia—despite finishing only a nose behind at the wire—was out of luck in fifth place.

     “Our photo-finish technology can accurately determine placings to within 1/100^th of a length,” said Hinsdale presiding judge Joe Sarsfield. “Four dogs were all within 1/100^th of a length of each other, and the fifth was only 2/100ths behind them. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years as a racing official.”

The track was required to pay out on four separate trifecta combinations and four separate superfectas to make good on the twin dead heats.

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