Jan 21 Sad to report that Ellie lost her pups last week, it seems as though one of the pups died which in turn infected the others so they were unable to survive, she is fine herself, although she is on a course of antibiotics to make sure she is free of any infection & the Vet is visiting daily to ensure she is ok. The plan at the present is to leave her in Ireland with Michael Brennan & reassess the situation at a later date.
Jan 9 No real news to report yet except that Ellie is due to have her Pups soon & we are looking forward to a trip to Ireland in the middle of Feb to see them.
Dec 17 Ellie is reported to be doing very well in Ireland, she has been enjoying all the attention from her keepers along with all the lovely food she is allowed to have now she is retired, the best bit of news for us though is that she has now gone off her food so fingers crossed she will shortly have some pups, we should know for sure in the next couple of weeks.
Nov 20 After a hectic few days Ellie has finally met with Spiral Nikita today at Sean Bourkes Newpark Stud. Her arrival in Ireland saw a little worry from us all when we learnt that she had caught an infection, fortunately this was spotted by the ever vigilant Michael Brennan who is looking after her for us. The infection was treated immediately & cleared up within a few days without too much worry. She will now stay with Michael & the next 6 weeks will probably be the longest of our lives since she is the first bitch we have bred from & will be on tenterhooks to find out if she has taken.
Nov 7 Ellie was taken to Ireland today, Sire is still not 100% decided yet but will be confirmed soon along with Date she is due to meet him, watch this space
Oct 28 Ellie is making a good recovery from her shoulder injury but is quite happy to lead a leisurely life now. Plans are being mapped out for her to go to Ireland when she comes into season next. Although a suitable choice of Sire for her is proving a difficult decision to make.
Sept 27 Drawn against Alwright Jack again tonight in a D1, Ellie made one of her finest starts for a long time & led well into the first bend gradually moving away from the field closely followed by Nifty Nikita.
She held on well for a win in what we now know to be her final race, she sadly finished lame having torn her right shoulder & considering she has been running with only three toes for a good length of time we are not prepared to risk her sustaining any further injuries.
She can now look forward to laying on her bed for a while, until we find a suitable mate for her to breed.
Sept 22 Ellie’s first 475m race since July 7th unfortunately was not one of her best, she failed to make the break again & on taking her usual rails route was met by a wall of dogs, race results suggest every chance but have to dispute that, however it may give the punters/faithful followers a chance next time out What about that trio, anyone would think ‘In the Lining’, had been set up for the race!
Sept 15 Beaten into third spot by the ‘on fire’, Alwright Jack who notched up his third 3 in a row tonight at Hove. Congratulations to his connections, maybe we will be third time lucky!
Sept 11 A missed break from Trap 1 may have cost Ellie victory tonight, still finished a creditable second so pleased nonetheless.
Sept 3 Ellie went to Hove today for a sprint trial & recorded second fastest time of the day 16.59, so appears to be fine, Derek will be looking out for a sprint open for her soon if ok tomorrow.
Aug 20 Report from the kennel says that Ellie has sustained some bruising on her right hind leg, probably explains why she didn’t show her usual pace, she will now be rested for 2 to 3 weeks.
Aug 18 Despite Ellie being sent off 2-1F, I think we all had our reservations about her chances tonight, proved correct when she missed her break again.
Did not seem to show her usual turn of foot either, resulting in her getting involved in trouble at first bend & finally finishing fifth.
Aug 14 Second 515m race for Ellie tonight since last year, doomed from the moment the traps opened, missed the break again & subsequently finished 6th. Seems she is having difficulty getting used to coming out of 515 traps & she seems to claw at them a lot with her bad foot. Because of this it has been decided not much point in entering her in the Brighton Belle & may well follow other options.
Aug 9 Ellie had her first 515m race since 30th Sept last year & was sent off as 5/4 favourite, personally I felt she had to do a lot to beat Druids Glory on the night, considering the length of time she has spent laying on her bed over the last few months. This was to be proved correct when ‘Glory’ pinged the lids with a 4.36 sectional & led from start to finish. Ellie managed to finish third, not bad considering she missed her break completely, hopefully given more runs she will be stronger over the distance. If she leads her next, she could be worth being on
Aug 4 Second win in a row for Ellie over 285m tonight, this an ‘open’, led from the off, beating the ‘jolly’ by 2 lengths
July 28 Second win for Ellie tonight, since seasonal rest. This a 285m D1. Sent off as evens fav, so they’d done their homework today!
July 19 Ellie was entered in the Ray Ward Gunsmiths sprint, as a reserve, along with kennelmate Tubby, (separate heats) sadly she did not trap as well as she can & left herself with a lot to do over the short distance to the lollipop. She did however manage to get to second place before being picked up by other kennelmate Smoking Jonesey, so justifying her place in the competition in the first place!!
July 12 Boxed up in three, Ellie was always going to have a tough time getting on the rails, she somehow missed the break further adding to her troubles & was finally placed third.
July 7 First 475m run for Ellie tonight, even though we saw the early pace she is renowned for, having led them all the way she just ran out of puff in the final few metres & was beaten half a length into third place, acceptable result though considering length of time she has been off.
June 28 Second D2 tonight for Ellie (and probably last for some time), wasn’t first to show but boy when she did left them for dead, finally finishing 3 1/4 lengths clear
June 21 Ellie had her first race today after seasonal rest, a D2 sprint, finished last of five, but didn’t trap too well so has been known to call it a day from the rear. In her defence she is carrying a lot of extra weight & is not fit by any means yet.
June 11 Second trial back today, 515m, reported that Ellie showed a lot of early pace, as she normally does, but tired very badly towards the end hence a slow time by her standards of 31.77. Understandable considering length of time she has been off, never really getting fit when she came back before. probably go back for a few sprints to build her up!!!!
June 4 Ellie went for her first trial after seasonal rest today, sprint 285m & completed it in 16.76calc. We are very pleased that she showed so much pace after being off for so long, at least she is coming back to better weather conditions now, probably as she planned it!!
Would expect to see her out again next Mon if all is well!!
May 2 Ellie is now about 6 weeks into her season so a while to wait before she comes back, who knows we might have two runners at same time soon!
Mar 12 Watched Ellie have her first trial over 515m today, she completed it in a very respectable 30.94, 4th fastest of the day. So we may see her run in a 475/515 before long!
Mar 3 ‘Two in a row’, Another fine win for Ellie tonight! By a length in 16.69 calc. Due to the problems with foot & mouth we will be unable to go to kennels for a little while so they will have to have extra rations next time.
Feb 24 Ellie’s back, she was graded in a 285m sprint tonight and won by 1&1/4 lengths in 16.55 calc. Good to be back! First winner for 6 months at Hove.
Feb 20 Went to see Ellie run for the first time over 475m since her rest, initially we thought there was something wrong with her because she ran about a second slower (28.47calc) than her best. After watching remainder of the trials though we realised that the track had not been watered so was very slow.
She will now have a trial over 515m, more than likely on Mon same time as Tubby!!
Feb 15 Ellies first run back after seasonal rest and injury was a 285m D2 with some very respectable dogs, sadly she missed the break and had given the subsequent winner three lengths by the first bend. She ran well though and gave her best as usual. Not sure what is in store next, but will keep updating as soon as we know.
Feb 8 Ellie had a 285m trial at Hove tonight and surprised us all by completing it in a very respectable 16.49 calc, so it will be very interesting to see what she has in store for her next, she hasn’t shown any more signs of problems with her toe or web as yet so for that we can be grateful, and look forward to seeing her in her first race back!!!
Jan 31 Ellie ran in her first trial back today since having her toe removed and subsequently coming into season. Derek put her in a 240m sprint for obvious reasons and she ran it in a very respectable time indeed (14.23 + 15), considering she must be lacking any level of fitness at this stage.
She will hopefully trial again possibly over a slightly longer distance Tues 6th, before racing. No trials Monday because of the installation of the new Swaffham Hare!!!!!!!
Jan 14 Been to kennels this morning and learnt that Ellie ripped a toenail off her other good foot last week (Tues), has had treatment, she is fine now and they have left bandage off to let the air to it. She should still trial in as normal, hopefully in next couple of weeks!!
Dec 31 Ellie is now in her normal kennel block and is sharing with Calder Joe (who belongs to Jimmy Jupp). Joe is very lively, unfortunately he has lost part of an ear to an earlier kennelmate. Ellie seems to get on well with him.
Dec 17 Pleased to report after visiting kennels that Ellie is doing fine, foot is now completely healed up, so she will be champing at the bit to get out and race soon, she is sharing with Wyndham at the moment who is also in season.
Dec 3 Following our latest visit to kennels, we are pleased to announce that her dressings have all been removed now, and her foot looks fine, I must say that the vet (Des Fegan), has made a very neat job and we can now only hope that it will not affect her performance unduly. We were able to take her for a walk around the paddock today.
Nov 12 After weekly visit to Albourne kennels, Ellie is doing fine, but has now come into season, this is probably a blessing in disguise as she will now have ten weeks rest and will not need to run in this awful weather!
Nov 8 Sadly, Ellie had an operation to remove a toe that had become infected and would not react to antibiotics, after a couple of weeks and an X-ray showed that it was beginning to spread to the bone, a decision had to be taken to remove the toe. The said X-ray also showed a fracture in the toe, which could possibly have been connected, however we are not really sure.
