Velvet Rebel was a top-class racer – no less than 53 wins in a career of 109 races – who came in to Tia in 2010, emaciated with open sores. Despite a truly illustrious career he found his way to Tia through the ignominy of a free ad. What’s of interest here is the subsequent careers of some involved in Velvet Rebel’s story – one ended up with an OBE ‘for services to greyhound racing’, whilst another became the CEO of the Retired Greyhound Trust before, earlier this year, progressing to be Director of Operations for Battersea.
Taken from a post by ‘Greyt Exploitations’:
One has to wonder how on earth does an ex greyhound trainer – who once trained a champion dog that was later found dumped in an emaciated and in a severley neglected condition – manage to secure the position of Director of Operations for Battersea Dogs Home?
Peter Laurie was not the last trainer or breeder to exploit Velvet Rebel – the dog was passed on to Charles Lister OBE and then a breeder. Regardless – Peter Laurie still earned money from this dog and still supports a racing/gambling industry that is responsible for the suffering and deaths of thousands of dogs every year.