100th race tonight for a dog who started life in America
A greyhound imported from America as a pup as part of an ambitious syndicate prospect has his 100th race in the UK this evening at Yarmouth.
Pictures courtesy of Samantha Fry
Special Kelli Windebank runner gets 100 up
Heflewanocean, the greyhound whose name truly reflects his backstory, has his 100th race on Wednesday at Yarmouth.
The now Kelli Windebank-trained tracker was bought from the US as a pup and was then flown thousands of miles - across an ocean, hence the name - to the then kennels of Jason Bloomfield, now assistant to Kelli, the licence holder.
“It’s some story and has meant he’s always had a following as such,” said Kelli. “He runs for the Apollo UK Syndicate who bought him from the States, from a breeder in Missouri.
“His journey to England took him via Florida - some 875 miles from Missouri his owners tell me - then it was 4,365 from Florida to Gatwick. His 28.7 miles or so round Yarmouth - think 100 times over 462m! - has been a doddle for him by comparison.
“Now having said that, his journey too and from our kennels to Yarmouth each time amounts to 18,656 so he’s racked up something like 23,896 miles during his lifetime. Again, one of the owners has crunched the numbers - not me! - but that’s some going.
“And therefore it’s probably no surprise that he’s such a laid back dog and great around the kennel,” added Yarmouth handler Windebank.
Keeping with the international flavour, Kelli revealed Heflewanocean’s owners are from all parts of the globe.
“He has a mix of American, Malta, Ireland, Scotland and UK owners - and they all keep in touch with his races online, plus have visited Yarmouth in some cases.”
Known as a consistent tracker, Heflewanocean has won 16 times at Yarmouth. The August 2022 son of My Bro Fabio and Teasmansqueezem runs in an A6 tonight (Wednesday), in the Heflewanocean Centennial Club Race Trophy.
