Today Derby Lane announced the cancellation of the 2008 Derby Lane Million. We were all looking forward to this historic international race as some of the best dogs from Ireland and Australia were going to attend. I have already cancelled my hotel room and I will remind everyone to do the same so they don't forget and get charged.

We wish everyone a safe and happy New Year!

Last night Danica Driver ran 2nd at Palm Beach. She could have easily won it but was busy pacing, then got passed and drove up to pace that dog! At least she hasn't turned her head. Nice bitch, extremely fast but focuses on the competition not the lure. She IS headed back to the breeding shed when she is done "playing" on the track.

John McEuen rushed up beautiful in his first ever "B" start and had the lead for several calls he got caught late in the race. But a promising effort from this puppy.

Dolly Madison is having a split season and has come back in. We are hoping she will in fact ovulate this time and will be bred to Maryville Rumble*.

The Fine Silver* litter was sprinted for the first time in the field and was so impressive I am thinking of repeating the breeding. However, I may follow the D'Arcys and how they bred Valoris and breed JR's Prelude to Swahili Eile* this season and then back to Fine Silver*.

For all of you following the discussions on Global Greyhounds....please contact me if you would like to get your female approved for a FREE BREEDING to Bouncing Bucky. Bucky IS the better of the two brothers and now I intend to prove that! We all know the proof is in the pudding so to speak. I believe in Bucky and I believe he is "the one". Denny Curry and I have decided that we will give some breedings away right now on Bucky! I am breeding my best Craigie Whistler female to him as soon as she comes in season.

Word from B&J Kennel is that Henry Howe and co-owner Brett Gerst have a hot, hot, hot young female getting ready to officially school out of our Dolly Madison! Baby's Got Heart is her name.....watch Jacksonville for this youngster trained by the B&J Kennel!

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of the stud dog, Hey Buzz. We were informed today by his adoptive owner, Jeff, that Buzz had passed this AM. His most notable offspring were; Bokars Memory, Smooth Criminal and Henry Longfellow. He was a lightly used sire but had a string of good useable track dogs. Buzz...I hope there are plenty of Poptarts up there for you boy! I know Jeff is hurting right now and I am grateful to him for giving Buzz a good home for his last years! Thank you Jeff!

As Track Dog Mike said "A Walk in the Park!" John McEuen WINS BY 9.5 in a 29.97!!!! Big congrats to owner, Doug Allen. He always believed in John even as a pup still in the whelping box. He said he is "the one". We certainly appreciate trainer/kennel owner Bernie McClellan taking the time to completely rework and retrain this pup. Bernie saw something as well in John and took the time and had the patience. For all you Fortress Blue naysayers....better take a second look! This stud dog NEVER has gotten a top female and yet has produced many nice grade A's at top tracks.

Pupdate- Both of Kyra's little Swahili Eile* pups are doing well. Eating like hogs! She is being a good mom although very sore I am sure.

We want to wish Dottie and Tony Morris the very best of luck in their upcoming Stakes final on Wednesday afternoon! GO JUNIOR GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! For those of you who don't know....Junior aka "Lil Ozzie" is a full brother to Ozzie The Man!

We see that American Greyhounds is back up and running under new ownership. This will in no way change our chat schedule! We look forward to seeing all of our regulars in there for our nightly chat discussions! We were thrilled to have Geoff Collins of World Class Sires in Australia in chat the other night to get an update on the Australian Team for the Derby Lane Million! We are so thrilled to have trainers, owners and studmasters from all over the world in our chat. We learn so much from our friends overseas!

Check out the Pedigree Corner! Martin shares his outlook on what the 2009 Sire Standings will look like...and why!

Update on Mark Ortiz....our friend who was in the hit and run accident on his bicycle.....Mark was in a nursing home and attending physical therapy. He developed an infection and was readmitted to Carolinas Medical Center. Mark was released yesterday and is staying with a close friend and will attempt rehab on his own. We continue to wish Mark the speediest of recoveries!

The little Swahili Eile's are here! They were born via c-section this am. They were simply too big for Kyra to whelp. She went into labor approx. 12:30am and I decided at 5:30am to do the surgery. We have one HUGE boy and one HUGE girl. The third was still born as he was crammed way up in the horn. They are just the picture of health though. Kyra's incision is quite large due to the enormous size of the pups. She is resting well and taking very good care of the "twins". Doug Allen and I have already named the male, "Blade". His racing name will be Sword of Eile. He is mirror image of his sire.

It has been a long and exhausting day. Fuzzys Derby was also bred to Swahili Eile this afternoon.

I guess it is time to start thinking about Christmas. I have been so busy I haven't thought a thing about it yet!

Please click on Pedigrees and check out Martin's latest blog entry. He interviewed Mick D'Arcy and has written an interesting bio on Mick D'Arcy's greyhound achievements and some of his thoughts on "The Big One", the Derby Lane Million.

Zam Turbo Blitz (full sister to Ebony River- the 2006 Million runner up) has been bred to Swahili Eile* this AM. Pups will be due on February 17th. Martin and I conferred on this breeding and we both felt this mating would produce outstanding track dogs.

To Shy To Say is being stubborn about going into labor. Her temp. has yet to drop and Dr. Jane and I did consult this AM and decided to do a cautious "wait and see" on her. We are not yet overly concerned and have not scheduled a c-section at this time. Those little Swahili Eile's are just not ready yet!

We wish the Davidson Kennel at Palm Beach luck in this Wednesday's semi final round of the puppy stake. WTD There You Go will be carrying the banner for Maryville Rumble. If he makes the final every litter has has multiple stakes finalists! Quite a feat for the handful of pups on the track!

Dolly Madison is having a split season and is currently no longer in. We will keep a careful eye on her as usually they fully come in season within 2 or 3 weeks.

Swahili Eile's* firstborn male will be named Sword Of Eile. The shield on the left is the Sword of Eile. Very regal name for a pup bred in the purple. There isn't a weak link in this pedigree.

I took mum, To Shy To Say to visit Dr. Jane this AM. We indeed have 3 very nice sized pups. If "Kyra" has any sort of an inkling of a problem we will do an immediate c-section. These pups are extremely important to Doug Allen and myself. It has been a hard week all the way 'round and we will take the extra precaution with Kyra.

Another German Shepherd breeder friend of mine who works for Dr. Jane also lost a imported bitch in whelp this week. So obviously this week has been devestating for a bunch of people and dogs.

We are enjoying our last warm day before Winter sets in for real.

We have done more progesterones this AM on Dolly Madison and Fuzzys Derby. Both were very low in the beginning of the week. Dolly is a notorious late ovulator. Dolly is being bred to supersire, Maryville Rumble* and Fuzzys Derby to Swahili Eile* for Roger Knauff. Roger has bred two females in a row to Eile.....this ought to speak volumes! Hint....he saw Eile in person!!! The pictures do not do this great champion credit. Eile is an outstanding looking athlete.

I just received a call from our finishing trainer, Joey Lingle. Sounds good. All the Rumble pups are aggressive and chasing extremely well. The two top pups as of right now belong to Dick Ciampa and Doug Allen. I don't know which male of Doug's is fast, nor which litter he is from. Dick's male, "Charlie" is out of PA's Shawnee Gal. My "DeeDee" is once again having some problems which her shoulder that was injured as a young pup. Patti Cooley went over her for me and deemed her sound. She IS sound out at Lingle's but he says she has a "waggle" to her gait. He is calling in a track trainer to go over her and see if there is more seperation in the shoulder. Right now the males are all faster than the females but they have only gone 'round 7 times. "Kristin" is only 11 mo. old and wasn't quite as focused as the rest but Joey said she has come around. All in all he said the pups were all running on par with all the other dogs on his farm and none were what he would call "slow".

It has been a VERY bad week all around for us and some of our dearest friends. Last night Dick Ciampa lost his beloved, DDM's Bandit. Unfortunately it was a comedy of errors on behalf of the vet. I am very angry right now and sad. Dick we are thinking of you!

Both Brenda Lee and Eaglewings had problematic whelps. Wings has had a reoccuring problem with being able to support her placentas and keep them healthy and viable. Once again the problem occured and Henry has decided to retire her as a brood. She will be available for adoption. Dr. Barber felt that this would happen over and over. Brenda Lee was borderline pyometra. She is re-gaining strength and this next breeding, Dr. Barber and myself will closely monitor her through the pregnancy and keep her on medication throughout. We will do several tests to make sure the infection is not reoccuring. This is my first ever episode with a borderline pyo case and I am learning the methods of treatment.

This week seems to be dragging on forever and it is one I would personally like to forget. This has been an all-time horrible week for us here.

We still have one more whelp to live through this week. To Shy To Say is due today with our precious Swahili Eile* pups. Doug Allen has been riding a wave of good luck lately and I hope this rubs off on her since he co-owns her with me!

Can you believe these are the Red Thunder pups???? They are all grown and ready to head to Pete Limmer's training farm in Texas! Sam, Dude and Jake will be making an appearance at the Spring Nationals! Don't forget....just cuz the old man is making his home in Ireland doesn't mean you can't still breed to him!!!!

Zam Turbo Blitz (DK's Primetime x Turbo Chopper) is in season. She is a full sister to stud dog, Ebony River. She will be bred immediately to SWAHILI EILE *. Swahili Eile* now has two girlfriends waiting for his arrival later this week!!!!

Greys Eaglewings is due to whelp tomorrow. It has been a busy, exhausting few days. To Shy To Say is due later in the week with Swahili Eile* pups. This will be Eile's very first American litter followed closely by a litter for Bob Rosko and Roger Knauff.

Hey look it's Denny Curry! Denny owns stud dog, Bouncing Bucky and DC Brenda Lee! He is up in Wisconsin and covered in snow! Hey...he has the right sweatshirt on!! GO PACKERS!!!!

Speaking of.....a pup co-owned by Henry Howe and I is named Packerbacker!!!! Kennel name is Favre!!! So we know he is gonna be a good one!!!! "Favre" is by Dodgem By Design and out of super brood, Dolly Madison! We have high hopes for these B&J Kennel pups!

Speaking of Dolly....Dolly Madison is in season and will be bred to Maryville Rumble*. These are stakes quality pups are we hope for a big, healthy litter out of one of the top broods on the farm!

Swahili Eile* (pictured) has breeders excited. Many think he will be well suited to American bred females and people are taking notice! He was patronized this week by two females and has a female due in 11 days!

We aquired some great broods this weekend. Both are DK's Primetimes and one is a full sister to stud dog, Ebony River. I believe one or both will be paying a visit to Mr. Rumble!

Congrats are in order to Henry and Beth Howe on their big win in the puppy stakes at Orange Park. Congrats to the entire staff of B&J Kennel and owners Cathie and Bill Lambert! Way to go! The had a whopping 4 dogs in the final! A true herculian feat!

Our Pedigree Corner is back and Martin will be updating it bi-weekly or more! So check out Martin's blog for his comments on current racing events, hot pups, stud dog trends and more!

Also new is Chris Stiver's blog featuring videos on our studs, and other multimedia slide shows etc! Check all of the blogs often!!!

Pictured is an extremely pregnant DC Brenda Lee. She is the littersister to Bouncing Bucky and Trent Lee. This is her first litter and they are Maryville Rumble* pups....of course!!!

It has been a good week for Fortress Blue pups. We thank Bernie the owner of the B&B kennel for re-working John McEuen and taking his time with him. John has now racked up THREE WINS in a ROW for Doug Allen!!!! My, Danica Driver ran a nice 2nd as well for the B&B Kennel! Unfortunately Meet The Creeper pulled up in the first bend and has been seriously injured. We don't know if he will come back from a suspected muscle tear or not.