Betfair Star / Editor / 14 July 2008 / Leave a comment

Our greyhound suffers a knock racing at the Stow

Our greyhound, Betfair Star, has been pulled out of an intended engagement at Hove on Tuesday after sustaining a shoulder injury during his most recent race at Walthamstow last week.

Teresa Cahill, wife of trainer Seamus, disclosed the disappointing news, saying: "We were unhappy with the performance of Betfair Star when he finished third at the Stow on Tuesday and decided to have him checked out.

"The examination has revealed Betfair Star has damaged a shoulder. We will start treatment straight away but it looks like Betfair Star will be off the track for three weeks at the very least."

This setback is unlikely to have a far-reaching effect on Betfair Star, pictured above in blue jacket, who has had three races for Seamus since arriving in the UK in May on the back of an impressive debut in 29.21sec over 480 metres at Thurles.

Shoulder injuries are quite common in racing greyhounds and only become career threatening when allowed to go undetected for several runs. Luckily, and thanks to the speed with which Seamus and Teresa dealt with the problem, Betfair Star should make a full recovery.

His treatment will be a combination of rest and physiotherapy - maybe the use of ultrasound and/or magnetic field therapy - and possibly a little swimming. After that Betfair Star will go into light training - short walks and gallops - before trialling back.

It is most likely Betfair Star sustained the injury when he was bumped in the early stages of last Tuesday's race. He went on to finish third behind the talented Tullymurry Jolly who clocked 29.36sec.

The run at Hove on Tuesday would have contributed to the qualification process required for Betfair Star to run in graded contests at Hove when Seamus joins the south coast track on a permanent basis on August 16, the scheduled closing date of Walthamstow.

Watch this space for further updates on Betfair Star.

Tags: Betfair Star, Hove, Seamus Cahill, Teresa Cahill, Thurles, Tullymurry Jolly, Walthamstow