To the Editor:
It has been brought to my attention that some readers of our local press were somewhat shocked to learn that I had scored back-to-back first place wins in the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Ducky Derby at the Hafen Park pond. Some say that I am just a lucky duck, those students of probability note the infinitesimal odds of this happening and a few have even indicated that an element of scandal may be involved – was the Ducky Derby rigged? I will let officials of our Chamber of Commerce deal with the latter question but I do have a few comments to share with readers as to the underlying reasons for the recent success of my Duck.

First, a bit of history as to my participation in the inaugural Mesquite Ducky Derby held in 2014. My winning Ducky, Quentin, was acquired as a part of my quack-pack of six ducks purchased from Chamber of Commerce representative Peggy Pope, a few weeks before the race date. After several time trials of my six ducks during our pre-race training efforts, it became obvious to me that Quentin had the best prospects of winning and thus a comprehensive racing strategy was developed. For competitive reasons, I cannot reveal the details of our strategy but suffice it to say that Quentin performed flawlessly in the execution of such strategy in winning the first annual Mesquite Chamber of Commerce Ducky Derby on April 19, 2014. As an amateur Ducky, Quentin could not accept any of the prize money which instead went to the Green Family Duck Racing Foundation for training expenses and entry fees for future Ducky Derby contestants.

I expect that some of you may have thought it was Quentin who won again this year. However, he left Mesquite shortly after his win when he elected to be a “One and Done” Ducky Derby winner by becoming a professional racing duck and competing for Big Bucks in the Great Eastern Iowa Duck race in July 2014. Quentin is now racing professionally on the European duck racing circuit.

For 2015, it was a slightly different story that again has produced a winning Ducky!  A quack-pack was again seen as the proper investment so I again sought out Peggy. However, the ducky training runs were not conclusive as three of my duckys were vyng to be “Leader of the Pack”. These three were Quincy and two female duckys, Queenie and Quanisha. Without a clear favorite, I was in a quandary as to a racing strategy and, facing a surgical procedure on April 2nd, I consulted my wife, Loretta.

She conducted a final training run and, in my absence, concluded that the appropriately-named Queenie was the Ducky with the most promise for success. Thus, Quincy and Quanisha took on secondary roles during the race as they quacked their companion through the quagmire of other duckys in her quest for victory on April 4th. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the race and related celebration but Loretta was there to accept the trophy. Queenie is still savoring her victory as she recovers from the exhaustive race. Her present plans are to not follow Quentin into professional duck racing but to remain in Mesquite and to make herself available for public appearances, etc. Also, Queenie may possibly choose to defend her title in the 2016 Mesquite Chamber of Commerce Ducky Derby. If so, she hopes to compete against an even larger field of qualified and quirky contestants.

Rich Green
Mesquite