From her second sprint trial 16.99 at Newcastle it was obvious to Alnwick Kennels that we had something special on our hands. The Blistering Pace we had been informed of by the Droopys Stud very quickly became apparent. This was confirmed when she won 5 out of her first 6 races (missing out on a very wet 500 mtr run at Sheffield).
However her first set back came at Romford when after an outstanding win in 23.95 on her first look at the track she was injured with a greyhound crashing on top of her accidentally at the pick up. This resulted next day in her being very badly bruised and unable to walk properly with a “dead leg”.
From being a short priced anti post favourite for the Romford Puppy Derby regretably she was unable to run in the Competition in which her Brother Droopys Carat finished Runner – up.
5 weeks later she returned to racing and won 6 out of 7 sprints including the Scurry Cup Final at Belle Vue. She also very impressively won 2 trial stakes at Nottingham recording 17.42 ( less than 1 length off the Track Record) and was 4/6 Anti Post Favourite for the National Sprint starting at Nottingham on 9th December 2019.
However her 2nd set Back occurred whilst Angela was driving to Nottingham on the 9th December for the first round of the National Sprint and was stopped by the Police on the A1 following a fatal Lorry fire on the opposite carriageway and this prevented her getting to the track in time for racing.
Following this set back Reel continued her streak winning a further 4 races to take her to 9 consecutive sprint races until defeated at Sheffield on 8th February.
However her 3rd set back followed when Jimmy detected first thing in the morning that Reel was not her normal self and had a high temperature which prompted him to give her antibiotics and get her immediately to the local vets. This was subsequently confirmed as CHP ( CANINE HAEMORAGHIC PNEUMONIA) the same disease that had proved fatal for SALACRES PUNCH during the National Sprint in December.
Reel was transferred from our local vets to a specialist referral Clinic in Stockton on Tees where she stayed for 5 days and her life was saved.
Following a 3 month total rest for Reel she was gradually allowed to free exercise in small paddocks with walks etc building up to free running on the gallop and after 15 weeks was started on building up her fitness levels with Gallops behind a lure building up the distance.
Following a week of 300 yard gallops every other day with no obvious respiratory distress it was decided to trial her over the Newcastle sprint distance when the track was freed from lockdown.
She won this 3 dogs trial comfortably in 17.26 but Angela noted she was breathing harder than normal at the pick up and she was carefully monitored from this moment on and she did eat her dinner that night and appeared to be getting her normal breathing rhythm back.
Next morning , whilst her breathing was still apparently ok although a little “shallow “ Jimmy noticed she looked bigger than normal ( as if she had had a full dinner) and decided to take her to the Vets for a full examination.
Xray examination showed Reel had a Pneumothorax ( which means air had escaped from the Lungs in to the Chest Cavity.
Additionally the Xray showed signs of scar tissue from the CHP and one of the scars had a small tear from where the air was escaping.
The excess air was removed from the Chest Cavity and she was kept overnight in the Vets pending an operation in the morning to do a procedure known as a “ Blood Patch” to repair the Leak .
When Xrayed again next day there had been no return of air to the Chest cavity so the Pneumothorax was clear and the small tear had healed and it was decided by the Vets to leave it to continue a natural healing process.
Reel was returned to the kennel and is looking /feeling /and appears 100% back to normal.
It is with much regret we have to announce to announce the decision to Retire Droopys Reel From Racing with immediate effect in order to ensure her life.
This agonising decision has been made to ensure Reel has the opportunity of living a full and normal life and will be given the opportunity to have some pups. Although we must stress that whilst it would be nice to have some pups from her the prime reason for the retiral is to ensure she has the opportunity of a full and fulfilling life at Alnwick Greyhound Kennels.
Statement issued by Angela Harrsion, Jimmy Wright for Alnwick Kennels
and owners
Paul Marragh , Tony Camsell , Kenny Campbell, Don Thompson , Mick Bellas
