Bobby back at kennels & Shrewdie in a cat 3 sprint comp!

Things are moving for the He Winked At Me syndicate this week!

First off, I dropped off Bobby to Maxine Locke's kennels on Sunday, after approx 6 weeks at home with us while recovering from a hock injury. Although I say at home, he was still kept in a kennel outside and kept on greyhound feed, so he will be fine getting back into the routine.

It was great having him at home for that time, and we tried our best to aid his recovery and keep him in shape at the same time, overall I think he went back looking well, it's now time for the verdict from the vet and then see how he takes back to the track if he is given the all clear. He went off into his kennel wagging his tail when he saw he was sharing a kennel with one of my bitches (Rookies Vision, Fuchsia).

 Bobby pulling at the lead around Maxine's field

As for Shrewdie, he was left off last week, with the hope that he would be accepted for the coral.co.uk sprint competition starting on Thursday at Hove. We eagerly awaited the card to be posted online on Monday afternoon to find out whether or not he was accepted and were ecstatic to find his name in heat 3!

It's an 18 runner comp with the top 2 from each heat going through to the £2,500 final live on sky next Wednesday (7th Sept). He has avoided some big names but being a very good field his race is not easy at all. We are pretty happy with his draw in trap 5 though, after all, he is 1 win from 1 run from the trap in his career(!)

When we saw Shrewdie at the weekend he looked an absolute picture, I cannot wait for Thursday and the trip down to Brighton for his race. I believe he can compete in this class, even though it is his first look at the track.

Shrewdie has constantly surprised us from his time in A10 to becoming the syndicates first Open Race winner, I wouldn't put it past him to surprise the viewers of RPGTV at 8.02pm on Thursday too...

http://www.brightonandhovegreyhoundstadium.co.uk/result/racecardform/2013/08/01racecardform1.pdf

We have an Open winner!!!

SHREWWWWWDIE!!!

What a great night! Shrewdie out in the first race at Romford last night, live on RPGTV. I had filled up on 7/2 early on and then again at 3/1, and the boy did the business!

Maxine's partner, Terry, came to join me and Aisling on the terraces for Shrewdies race and he said himself he doesn't find himself shouting for a dog to win, but Shrewdie had us all screaming!

Not necessarily trapping as well as he had the previous week, this time he had to rely on early pace to be able to go round the bend infront. He was in trap 5 this week and I think that helped him with a better angle to attack the bend from whereas last week he didn't seem to drive it as well!

As soon as he went round he never looked like being caught and the cheering started (seemed like only us in the terraces were on him!). Our first ever open race winner as a syndicate, it's a shame we all couldn't be there but work commitments kept a couple away.

That was followed by a presentation/photo where we got a nice trophy for his win and we got to give him some attention!

I say it quite a bit on this blog but it really has to be said what a great job Maxine, Terry and their team do. When we took Shrewdie over to the Bonville kennels he was A10 at Monmore (and couldn't win). Since then he climbed the grades round Romford over the 400m trip and has now won a Sprint Open! Not only that though, he looks an absolute picture and is so happy in his new kennels. It's clearly a place where dogs are loved and are happy, and i'm excited to see how far Shrewdie can go now on the sprinting scene!

Onto Bobby now for a second, he has now been off 9 weeks after his hairline fracture and is ready to go back to be checked over and hopefully get back on the track himself. He will now be going to Maxine's kennels too, hopefully in around a weeks time when they have had a shuffle round to fit him in (thankyou!).

I will now leave you with a link to Shrewdies race video which I can't stop watching with a big grin on my face!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CQK7_4M7H-I

Shrewdie does us proud!

So Shrewdie out in his first open race last night, a massive step up in class but one we had hoped he would be able to handle over the 2 bends.

He did not disappoint, a very encouraging run. He showed yet again his ability to time the trap rise to perfection and was first to show. The question mark was whether he had the early pace of the 'big boys' to hold his position to the bend, and although the red got up his inside to crowd him out he was so close to going round infront.

It wasn't just his trapping that impressed us, it was then the way he battled despite being knocked back at the first, and from that point no dog was going faster than him to the line and he gained on 1,2 & 6 to the line, getting up well to finish 3rd. His time was 14.00 less the going -10.

Very impressed with this run and the syndicate had a great night in the Romford Chase restaurant too, made better by Maxine inviting us round to see Shrewdie afterwards which was wonderful.

He will hopefully get another go next Friday night where I will be hoping he can hold his pitch to the bend and we can start OI OI'ing!

Flying trial leads to sprint open!

Wow what a great day!

After months of waiting to see Shrewdie in action over 2 bends it finally happened today in a sprint trial at Romford. I would have been happy with 14.10 for first look on the other side of the track but he really smashed that!

Shrewdie managed 13.81 and the going was later marked -15. So he's managed a calculated 13.66! What a great run!

Maxine was impressed so much she instantly entered him into the sprint open at Romford on Friday night (will be live on RPGTV), and we have just seen the advanced card and he has been accepted! In trap 3 and certainly a big class jump, we are hoping Shrewdie can compete in this level and most importantly, come off sound to race another day!

Again I cannot say enough about how well Maxine and her team have done in taking this dog on and bringing him along, who knows how much more she can get out of him, he only turns 2 this month.

The syndicate will be out in full force on Friday evening with a restaurant table being booked tomorrow for all 4 members and partners. Absolutely cannot wait to see him parading in his first open race, and if he wins, well, you'll hear us!

OI OI.

Kennel visit and sprint trial

On Sunday I went to visit Shrewdie for the first time since his change in kennels. It's been a few months which is a shame but I do also have a couple of other bitches over at Swindon so it's not always easy getting to them too when everyone's 'open days' are on Sundays.

I was however very pleased I made the trip round the M25 on Sunday. Shrewdie looked an absolute picture, and I met Maxine and her partner Terry for the first time. They are a lovely dog loving couple and made an effort to chat to me and my girlfriend while we were there and clearly loved Shrewdie as he didn't stop wagging his tail every time they would call his name.

It's good to see he has settled in brilliantly and is kenneling with a bitch now, something which he never got the chance to do at his previous kennels as he was deemed a vicious dog when kenneled with another. I'm glad Maxine has used her own judgement on this one and he can now enjoy company in the kennels and come out of himself even more.

Sadly, Shrewdie didn't manage to win on Saturday on the upgrade again but did however do another 3.66 sectional, meaning his last 3 runs have been 3.66, 3.67, 3.66. With brilliant pace into the third bend I think it's only fair we get to see if this dog could be a different class over 2 bends.

We get to see whether or not this is possible Tuesday where he is sprint number 8 over 225m. Maxine set a rather high target when I spoke to her on Sunday about it, but I hope she is right!! Let's just hope the dog gives himself the best chance by timing the lids well and then we will see whether he is capable or not. If he's not quick enough then we will have him back in the grades, but if he is, who knows?

Some pictures from the kennel visit :

Shrewdie boosts the bankroll

Bit of a late update really but Shrewdie did the syndicate proud again last Saturday.

Running in A5 after being narrowly beaten previous we were confident he could put up another bold showing. The only thing I was worried about was that he may need the run again as he had been left off the card for a couple of weeks.

How wrong I was. Maxine had him in great shape as usual, she is really getting the best out of the dog and that showed when he flew from the boxes doing a 3.67 sectional. He showed great pace into the third and was strong shoving the heavily bet (4/1 into 5/4) 6 dog at the third bend when he tried to get involved.

He stayed better and won in a time of 24.50 (+20) which we were really pleased with! He is out tomorrow again on the upgrade, but with his timing at the traps he always manages to give himself a chance! I hope he can lead up the A4 dogs and if he does he can go close again. If he continues to show his trapping prowess Maxine will give him a trial over the sprint distance round Romford.

Of the 9 all male litter, 7 of them run opens, with most being blessed with alot of early and running in short 4 bend and 2 bend races. We are still hopeful Shrewdie could possibly compete in the odd sprint open but only time will tell.