THE DAM
Given the thousands of variables involved in producing a litter of racing dogs, it is virtually impossible to back up even the shiniest of ‘silver rules’ with irrefutable evidence.
But you would struggle to find any serious breeding student who doesn’t believe that the dam is more important than the sire.
Of course the scales are invariably tilted in mum’s favour:
1) There is probably only one exceptional sire born every two or three years, including roughly one dog a year who may make it to the top three. Yet at any stage there may be a dozen broods who might be considered top class.
2) The top breeders tend to own the top broods and their pups tend to be the best reared.
As with stud dogs, you can find evidence to justify virtually any opinion. Just as we can rattle off Derby winners who flopped, there have been some great racing bitches who failed in the paddocks.
As we approach the Oaks final, what about (and we are talking top quality Oaks winners here) Forest Twilight (2016), Domino Storm (2015), Cashen Maureen (2014), Silverview Perky (2011) as just the tip of the disappointing iceberg?
Even then we have to be careful. There may well be tales of infertility, bad luck or both. It wouldn’t be the first time that I suggested ‘she didn’t throw as well as you might have hoped’ only to be told, ‘she produced the fastest pup I ever laid hands on and he broke a leg in his qualifying trials’
Inevitably, the flip side of the argument, there have been some top class Oaks winners who went on to become great broods.
The most recent is probably Droopys Danneel (’13) (Dorotas Wiidcat, Vic and Woo Hoo, Forest Con, Forest Natalee, Oscar Whisky)
Or Shaws Dilemma (’09) (King Kane, King Eden King Kid, King Alley, Queen Asia).
Possibly the greatest ever Oaks Final for future mums was the 1976 decider:
1st: Ballinderry Moth (dam of Daleys Gold, Swift Rapier, Over the River, Westpark Goldie, Derry Linda etc)
2nd Paradise Peg (exported – dam of Queensland Greyhound of Year Final Dream)
3rd Ka Boom (dam of Special Account, Decoy Boom, Westmead Gem etc)
4th Isle Of Thanet (dam of ’81 Oaks winner Thanet Princess)
5th Ballybeg Seven (Ka Boom’s sister but threw nothing of note)
6th Lucky Arrival (dam of Easy And Slow, Cathys Fugitive, Ballinoe Sand)
So are dams really that much more dominant producers than dogs?
The figures can be deceiving. If there are six males in a Derby Final, probably half won’t go to stud and one or two may get enough matings to be able to prove themselves. All six Oaks finalists will probably get the chance to produce litters.
Looking at the numbers, I’m not convinced that a top class open race bitch is any more likely to transmit her abilities than a top class dog given similar opportunities. But he is much less likely to get the opportunity.
But as we have seen with unlucky racers like Droopys Sydney and Droopys Scolari, there are probably others out there who would shine given even half a chance.
So – as with the stud dogs article last week – should we look at the bitches who have made it and try to find a common theme? I’ve gone for five of the top proven broods of recent years
SKATE ON (Cashen Legend-Grannys Image)
Racing: On the track she broke a series of sprint track records, finished runner-up in the Oaks and contested a string of major finals including two Scurrys.
Breeding: Skate On’s potential wasn’t so obvious. Her dam Grannys Image threw little else in a couple of litters (one of Skate On’s litter sisters ran 160 races in lower grades at Crayford.) Grand dam For Smash, who was a litter sister to a decent minor open sprinter, Moral Prince, threw Messi, who won the Midland Derby at Mullingar but little else.
You have to go back to maternal great grand dam Single Issue to find real class. She won a Guinness Trophy at Cork and a Dungannon Oaks that included Stay Sharp and Tullymurry Tango.
Brood Skate On is the only brood ever to land the ‘Dam of Best British Bred Litter’ four times. She also threw the Best British Bred Greyhound from three different litters: King Elvis (Tullymurry Act), King Sheeran (Eden The Kid), Queen Jessiej (Leamaneigh Turbo).
Racing: 9 Breeding: 5 Brood: 9
MEGA DELIGHT (Smooth Rumble-Knockeevan Joy)
Racing: Meg’s early track career is interesting because after showing some ability in Ireland, she came to England but didn’t appear to be giving 100%. She returned to Ireland for more intensive training and broke the Mullingar 600 clock in landing the 2002 Cesarewitch followed by the Corn Cuchulainn. She also finished runner-up in the Irish Leger.
Breeding: she was out of a very good brood in the shape of Munster Puppy Cup runner-up Knockeevan Joy. Thus Meg was a half sister to a very fine bitch in Irish Oaks/Derby runner-up Mustang Mega, with plenty of other lesser stakes dogs. Joy was also a litter sister to Sunderland Puppy Derby winner Knockeevan Dan and a half sister to Scottish Derby winner Knockeevan Star.
Brood: The only bitch ever to throw three English Derby winners: Westmead Hawk (2), Westmead Lord (1) and the only brood to throw English Derby winners from different litters. She has thrown more open winners than any bitch in history – 38 hounds from seven litters won 353 opens. There were Cat One winners in six of her seven litters. She was the perfect ten.
Racing: 9 Breeding: 8 Brood: 10
BALLYMAC RAZL (Razldazl Billy-Ballymac Floss)
Racing: Liam Dowling’s bitch never raced as an adult. She won six of her 20 races including a Puppy Oaks semi final in 28.53 at Harolds Cross with a 29.64 for 550 at Shelbourne. She a high class bitch, but certainly not the best ever Ballymac – on all known form. This is the kennel that produced Ballymac Tas, Arraminta, Ariel etc
Breeding: There are no Derby winners there (Ballymac Matt was from a different branch of the family), but this is absolutely solid consistent open class breeding.
Razl’s litter included open racers Ballymac Pet (Queen Mother Cup) and Ministry Millie (RU Bussey Mem). Their dam Ballymac Floss won the Youghal Champion Bitch Stakes and contested the Cork Oaks and Barrys Tea Finals. Her other progeny: Ballymacs: William, Weeshie plus Vatican Jura, Three One Three, Barnfield Rocky, Aero Tobias and Coolavanny Angie (dam of Ballymacs Arraminta, Anton, Kingdom, Wisdom etc) to name but a sample.
Brood: Razl has produced outstanding winners on either side of the Irish Sea – and in volume – including Ballymacs Ramsey, Cashout, Tas, Syd, Inspeed, plus Smallmead, Bockos Melody, Banabane, Pentajali and many more.
Racing: 8 Breeding: 9 Brood: 9
SIZZLING SARAH (Razldazl Billy-Nifty Princess)
Racing: On the face of it – not knowing if there were extenuating circumstances – a fairly ordinary racing career. Although she broke 29.00 at Galway when still young, Sarah’s race record reads three wins in 21 races.
Breeding: But then it gets interesting. Sarah is a litter sister to Skywalker Queen who won and ran-up in Irish Oaks Finals and won a Dundalk International. There were a rake of ‘good Saturday night Shelbourne’ runners in the pedigree but the streak of gold shone brightest when Nifty Princess’s dam Nifty Niamh was mated to Premier County and produced Premier Fantasy. Niamh has an interesting tie in with Mega Delight. They both won a Corn Cuchulainn, reached Irish Leger finals and were trained by the great Seamus Graham.
Brood: The hallmark of a great brood is top class hounds in different litters. Sarah’s first litter included a couple of minor open winners, though sire College Causeway would prove an average stud dog. Then followed the Definate Opinions including the brilliant Roxholme Magic. Then to Zero Ten she produced Irish Derby runner-up Magical Bale. The Tarsna Havana’s featured the brilliant Nottingham 500m record breaker Skywalker Logan, Oaks runner-up Magical Vera and beaten Leger favourite Magical Icarus.
(If you cast your mind back to the 2020 Derby final, it included the two half brothers, Bale and Logan – plus Razl’s daughter Ballymac Tas).
Racing: 6 Breeding: 7 Brood: 9
DROOPYS HILDA (Ace Hi Rumble-Droopys Orleans)
Racing: You might look at a record of one win in 11 races and assume that Hilda was average. Although we can only judge on her record, you can bet she was, or would have been very decent. She qualified in 29.59 at Cork and won her second race at Shelbourne in 28.55. She qualified for the second round of the Oaks but was then withdrawn. Her last race was beaten a length in 28.66 at Shelbourne and she was then retired while still a pup. Her future lay in the breeding paddocks.
Breeding: Hilda was a litter sister to Regency finalist Stainless Steel and a half sister to Derby runner-up Droopys Ward. In all honesty though, Orleans wouldn’t be among the kennel’s elite dams. She was by Droopys Vieri, but when her dam Droopys Bolero was mated to Ace Hi Rumble, she had produced a fabulous litter that included Race Of Champions/National Puppy Stake winner Deerfield Music. Another brother, Droopys Oscar, won the 2010 Puppy Classic for Seamus Cahill with yet another littermate, Slick Symphony, also in the line-up, Another member of the litter Droopys Luisao was runner-up in the Manchester Puppy Cup. He and yet another littermate, Elwick Bolero both finished behind Mega Delight’s son Westmead Maldini in the Northern Puppy Derby Final. Beyond that we see the Dunphy’s premier dam line descending from Little Diamond UK.
Brood: Hilda certainly hit the ground running when producing the brilliant Droopys Buick in a first litter than also included the useful Droopys Benz. There were a couple of decent open racers in Droopys Jester and Droopys Smasher from the Aero Majestic litter.
The Ballymac Eske litter raced mainly in Ireland and was headed by Javielenko who won the Red Mills Champion Unraced and Gain 600 before stepping up to six bends and taking the Corn Cuchulainn. Droopys Noah was a Harolds Cross Juvenile Derby runner-up and East Cup finalist
But it was the Droopys Sydney litter that produced more genuine Category One performers in Roman Empire and Droopys Aoife, followed by a Droopys Jet litter which featured Droopys Addition.
Racing: 7 Breeding: 8 Brood: 9
Once again the ‘hit and miss’ nature of breeding is highlighted. But while even the greatest racers can flop in the breeding paddocks, I plan to present a future article which shows that once a brood produced – she is highly likely to keep producing.
In future articles, I will also narrow down the criteria that would determine the chances of a bitch becoming a top open race dam while attempting to identify some likely candidates.
I will also look at some of the myths that would seemingly preclude ex-racers from producing champions.
Greyhound breeding throws up at least as many good stories as racing Pat Quinn, former headman to Pam Heasman reminded me this week of the kennel’s Australian connection.
The first concerned the most influential Irish dog ever exported to Australia, Waverley Supreme – thanks largely to his son Chariot Supreme. The son of Supreme Fun and Octum was a litter brother to the late Maerion Fenwick’s Laurdella Fun but a very different kind of animal. While Laurdella Fun was all about early pace, the Gay McKenna trained Waverley Supreme was blessed with tremendous stamina. Owned by Cyril (Scotland) Young – who also owned Westpark Mustard – and Irish breeding’s finest gentleman, Matt Bruton, the Shelbourne 750 record breaker was bought by well known owner Tommy Jones at the end of his career.
The link to the Heasman kennel is fairly tenuous, basically they basically just kenneled the dog prior for a few weeks prior to his export.
It was a similar story with Lively Band. The Irish Derby/Leger/Dundalk International winner and Greyhound of the Year had also won the 1974 English Derby consolation in a time far quicker than Derby winner Jimsun. But he was notoriously disqualified for fighting in the 1975 English Derby semi final, was then sold to Australia for stud duties. It was at that stage that he was kenneled with Pam and Pat for five months while preparations were made. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant encounter for Pat.
He said: “I never handled a filthier dog in all my life. Every day he would be taken for an hour’s walk but as soon as he got home, he would piss and shit on the bed. I’ve never known a dog like it.”
As some may recall, Lively Band’s retirement would be steeped in as much controversy as his racing career. He had served a number of bitches prior to his departure and threw some stunning hounds, most notably Yellow Band and the litter that featured English Derby winner Balliniska Band, Derby Consolation winner Linacre, Colonel Pearloma and stud dog Ceili Band.
His Australian career was less brilliant though he did throw National Derby winner Tegimi. However a decision was made to return him to Ireland. He was found dead in his crate when he arrived at Heathrow in July 1978. He was said to have been heavily insured.
Perhaps the most interesting story though concerns Come On Wonder. The litter brother to Dolores Rocket was one of the fastest dogs in training. He held the track record for what many dog men considered ‘the ultimate’ test of pace, the West Ham 550 yards, plus the 700 yard clock on the old ‘yellow’ Crayford.
Unfortunately – Come On Wonder had a ‘kink’ – which may possibly have had something to do with his schooling. As all the locals were aware, the whole litter, including his Greyhound of the Year sister, were schooled by Bert White on the inside hare at flapping track Aldershot.
Pat said: “He was brilliant on the inside hare, but dodgy on the outside lure and was disqualified. One day I was sitting with Pam when Johnny Faint asked if he could find a home for him. Pam said she could do better than that and offered him £800 for the dog. John was delighted and the deal was done. Pam then sold him onto Australia with just a reasonable profit on what she had bought him for.”
It is perhaps no surprise that offspring of the big strapping black were well suited to the Aussie tracks that would have so resembled Britain’s biggest circuit, AND they had inside lures.
Come On Wonder made a reasonable mark in Australian bloodlines and can be found – along with Waverley Supreme – in the pedigree of (among others) the great Brett Lee.
In fact, Pat even remembers the day he took Come On Wonder along to Heathrow to make the 12,000 mile journey. It was September 1974, but he wasn’t particularly aware of the heightened security surrounding ‘The Troubles’.
He said: “I didn’t have a care in the world. I strolled into Heathrow with the dog on a lead and one of those big leather box muzzles. Suddenly I was aware that I was being followed. Then there were a couple of people suddenly appeared in front of me and one guy say, ‘Could you go straight into the office please sir and don’t touch anything’
“I thought, ‘Jesus, what’s going on here?’
“Then the guys says to me, ‘Could you explain to me why you are carrying that holster?’
“It was all soon sorted out and I was on my way, only to get stopped again as I was driving away. The police and army had set up their ring of steel’. It wasn’t a great day to be a little fella with a Belfast accent’.
