The exploits of March On Freddie in the Puppy Classic have rejuvenated the stud career of his sire Dorotas Wildcat.
The 2018 English Derby winner stands at stud with Sean and Michael Dunphy at the famous ‘Droopys’ kennel in Portlaw, Waterford.
Michael said: “Wildcat has really taken off in recent months, not just through the dog in England but there are quite a lot over here too. We’ve had some good dogs by him ourself.”
As often happens, dogs who primarily raced in Britain face a tougher time making a breakthrough than racers familiar to Irish breeders. Though this is a particularly tough time for young stud dogs thanks to another of the kennels former inmates.
Michael said: (Droopys) Sydney was so dominant, the most I have ever seen from one stud dog, and that worked against the younger sires.
“You’d have a nice youngster go around in 28.70 which would be a great advert for the young stud dog, and then there would be a Sydney pup do 28.50 and take all the shine off it.
“It wasn’t just the dog pups either. Plenty of Sydney’s bitches were as big and strong and fast as the dogs.”
Despite the continued decline in breeding numbers, there has been no let up for Ireland’s most prolific producers.
Michael said: “It is clear that breeding is back, but we did virtually the same numbers last year as the year before. The prices are holding up just as they would in any other business. When there is less beef the price goes up.
“We are schooling 40 young dogs at the moment so we have plenty to keep us busy.”
To assess the current Irish racing scene, we decided to take a snapshot of just the 2023 whelps.
According to our records, the first 2023 whelp to win a race was Romantic Tessie (Skywalker Canny-Skywalker Luna, Jan 23) who clocked 29.70 on debut at Galway on May 3. She also won again a week later in 29.53, on the same night that Missouri Ebony (Explosive Boy-Burgess Cassie, Jan 23) clocked 18.74 to win over the Cork sprint.
In fact, there were nine ’23 winners during the month, followed by nine in June, rising to 19 in July, 83 in August and so far this month, there have been 32. A total of 152.
The most prolific sire has been Malachi with 24 winners, followed by 21-Ballymac Cashout, 12-Ballymac Best, 10 Dorotas Wildcat and 8 Ballymac Bolger.
Romantic Tessie – whelped on January 1 – is from the most prolific litter thus far with four littermates sharing 7 race wins between them.
Five outstanding performances by ’23 whelps
Ballymac Bella (Ballymac Wild-Jamaica Joy, May 23) – 17.51 325y Tralee – 15 months
Ever So Cashout (Ballymac Cashout-Fire Height Maid, Jan 23) – 28.35 525 Tralee – 19 months
Fire Height Lila (Ballymac Cashout-Fire Height Maid, Jan 23) – 28.37 Tralee – 18 months
Fun In The Run (Malachi-Love Island, Jan 23) – 28.23 525 Shel.Pk – 19 months
Stefans Tomcat (Dorotas Wildcat-Muffin, Feb 23) 29.10 FOY 525 Mull. – 19 months
