Vince Berland

Vince Berland has bred, raised, and owned thousands of greyhounds in the last 24 years since getting involved in the industry. He began by purchasing three race dogs in the 1986 NGA Fall Meet Racing Stock Auction. The income created by those pups gave him the desire to be a big success in the racing greyhound industry. Within a year, he was raising multiple litters, and within two years had a large farm being built four miles east of Abilene. Vince’s Flying Eagles Kennel is still headquartered there today, and he has added a puppy farm and kennel on Old Highway 40 between Abilene and Solomon.

Vince bought much of his original brood stock in the late 80’s from Herb “Dutch” Koerner and Wayne Strong. Vince’s first main stake winner at an NGA meet was Flying Staton. This was in the Spring of 1989. This pup was the product of Dutch Koerner’s sire, And Then Some, and Dutch Pandora. That same meet Vince had the high seller in the auction with Flying Vince who sold for $13,500. Flying Vince was a son of Dutch Koerner’s other stud dog, the great Hall-Of-Famer, Dutch Bahama. This was Vince’s first taste of success in the NGA meets and only the beginning.

In the Fall NGA meet of 1989, Vince sold a pup named Flying Missile for $6,000 in the auction. He went on to be the first “Flying” commercial stud dog. He was by Dutch Bahama out of a female purchased from Strong, Butter Line.

In the Fall of 1990, Flying Eagles Kennel, came to the NGA meet loaded with talent. The litter out of Win Jet(purchased from Strong) and Dutch Bahama were very
precocious. They were very young July pups, but Flying Bubba nearly set the track record in the first round winning by 21 lengths. His sister Flying Winner won her first round race by 19 lengths and another sister, Flying Learjet, won her opening round by a staggering 23 ½ lengths. They were completely dominant to say the least. In their main stake finals Bubba and Winner won easily. Vince raced a slew of other good pups at this meet and won two other main stakes with Flying Ruler and Flying Goodtime. This marked the first time that Flying Eagles Kennel had won the NGA meet by having the most main stake
winners. Another young dog in this meet who didn’t win was Flying Gunman, who went on to be the Pueblo Derby Champ. He also went on to stand at public stud along with his littermate Flying Rifleman, and full-blood relative, Flying Bubba. A couple of months after the meet, Flying Eagles Kennel’s four main stake winners appeared on the cover of The Greyhound Review with Vince, Laurita and Lance Berland holding them. It was the first time that Vince, Flying Eagles Kennel, or any of his dogs were honored in this way.