July 2023 proves deadly for older greyhounds

A four-and-a-half-year old greyhound drops dead straight after her race. Another two snap their necks while running for their lives. Six greyhounds, mostly older and all females, lost their lives racing in July 2023.

Missy, nearly four and a half, was raced to her death on July 7 at Cannington track, Western Australia. Missy finished her 56th race, then simply collapsed and died in the catching pen. A post mortem will be conducted, that we probably won’t see. Missy had won her owner over $12,000.

The next day at the Geelong track in Victoria Zipping Vienna, a youngster in comparison at twenty eight months, collided with another greyhound at the first turn and fell. She had broken her neck, suffering a fracture of the second vertebra and a “breakdown in the atlantoaxial joint” which is the joint between the first and second vertebrae. Zipping Vienna was pronounced deceased by the on track vet. Her distressing fall was captured on the race video. It was her 33rd race.

Two greyhounds were killed racing on 11 July. Back at Cannington track, WA, Wynburn Joy collided with another greyhound at the first turn. She stumbled, fell and “failed to finish”. How could she go on with two broken legs? She had fractured her right fore humerus and her right hind hock. Wynburn Joy was forty months old, running in her 54th race. She had been raced extensively in Tasmania before ending up in Western Australia. Despite winning her connections over $14,000 Wynburn Joy was killed by the on-track vet.

Winklee Casey was a veteran of the racing industry at four-and-a-half years old. On July 11 she was running in her 77th race in Launceston, Tasmania when she collided with another runner at the first turn and fell. Winklee Casey fractured her right elbow joint and was killed by the on-track vet. This poor girl had earned her connections a whopping $51,365 during her career. Interestingly Winklee Casey had not raced between December 2022 and June 2023. 

Two days later on July 13th at Sandown track, Victoria, three-year-old Can’t Catch Ivy suffered an injury at the first turn. She stood motionless on the track with a left radius and ulna fracture, waiting for someone to come and help her. When help arrived, it came to kill her. The race video is “unavailable”. It was her 37th start. Can’t Catch Ivy had won her connections over $21,000 but it wasn’t enough to earn her rehabilitation and retirement.

And on July 30 back at Cannington track in WA, three-and-a-half-year old Impress Ledecky fell after colliding with another greyhound on the back straight. She fell and broke her neck. Unsurprisingly she “failed to finish” and was despatched by the on-track vet soon after. It was Impress Ledecky’s 44th start. She was the second of her trainer’s greyhounds to die at Cannington track in three and a half weeks.