Superstud Droopys Sydney is the sire of a third of the remaining 24 runners in the Greyhound Derby. Some feat, but how does it fare over history?
Well Sydney already has one Derby winner to his name in Deerjet Sydney. Should one of the octet prevail, he would become the 13th dual Derby winner. No dog has ever sired three winners, though Top Honcho came close. The subsequent disqualification of Droopys Hewitt defied the treble with paternal half brothers Droopys Scholes and Loyal Honcho.
Where it gets interesting – admitedly only for the breeding geeks – is to look at the number of finalists that they have produced, because they produce an uncannily accurate snapshot of the great sires of their respective eras.
In the post Second World War era, the boomtime for greyhound racing, Mad Tanist was the breeder’s go-to stud dog. He produced eight Derby finalists between 1947-1954 with only Ballylanigan Tanist lifting the 1951 trophy where he had half the field.
As his era began to fade, it was Champion Prince who became the breeder’s darling. His first finalist was Duet Leader in 1955, he had three in the following final, including the runner-up, and the beaten favourite, Northern King. It wasn’t until his sixth and seventh finalists, that the sequence was broken as Pigalle Wonder and Northern Lad took the forecast. There were two more to come including the 1962 winner, The Grand Canal, giving a total of nine finalist, the second highest number ever.
The stud careers of Champion Prince and his son Solar Prince began to overlap in 1960 when the latter had three finalists. He would eventually sire eight, though just one winner, Faithful Hope (1966).
By that stage, another father and son were beginning to emerge. Crazy Paracute (yes correct spelling) had a couple of runners in the ’64 final but four two years later including the famous litter brother forecast of Tric Trac and Spectre. The following year he had the 4-6 favourite Shady Parachute in the notorious Camira Flash final.
Paracute’s son, the 30 kilo Monalee Champion would go one better with eight finalists between 1971 and 1978. Overall though, his Derby returns didn’t match his overall influence with just one winner, Jimsun (’74).
Since then, only two sires have had seven or more finalists and both are household names.
The first is Westmead Hawk, one of only four dogs in history to win the Derby twice. But none of the other trio, Mick The Miller, Patricia’s Hope nor Rapid Ranger are in the ‘Derby winning sires’ list.
There are six on that short list altogether: Endless Gossip/Priceless Border, Faithful Hope/John Silver, Jimsun/Sarahs Bunny, I’m Slippy/Slippy Blue, and Dorotas Wildcat/Thornfield Falcon.
‘The Hawk’ though is unique, he doubled up with Sidaz Jack and Taylors Sky. (You might also spot him in Droopys Sydney’s pedigree, below)
All of which leaves the mighty Top Honcho with no less than 15 English Derby finalists, six more than his closest rival.
And they are: Droopys Honcho (01), Droopys Hewitt, Top Savings (03), Droopys Scholes, Big Freeze (04), Blue Majestic (05), Mineola Farloe (05/06), Loyal Honcho (07/08), Tyrur Laurel, Kryptonite, Lenson Express (08), Oran Classic, Lyreen Mover (09).
My great thanks to Thomas Fitzgerald from Limerick who read the feature this week regarding Kent Silver Salver winner Flashing Willow and his great Irish sprinting rival, Gizmo Cash.
It transpires that the pair were actually bred by two cousins.
Thomas wrote: “Flashing Willow was bred by Maurice Fitzgerald Glin, Co. Limerick; my cousin and neighbour. While Gizmo was ‘bred’ by Maurice Fitzgerald, Askeaton, Co Limerick for his son, Padraig. Also, Quarteira was reared and owned locally, only a stone’s throw from were Willow was whelped, so great banter this week leading upto the final.
“Unfortunately, Willow’s dam Cabbage went missing a few months back. (They are reared on a large open dairy farm and we think she may have strayed hunting) . I bought a nice half brother of Willow for Jimmy Wright a couple of months back, Derby Nelson. He’s made an okay start with two wins from two starts in the UK.”
Thomas is being quite modest himself having also bred a Category One winner this year, the Bresbet Gymcrack winner Stormy News. (Whose gambling winnings have enabled Mick Hurst to buy two Carribean islands and a superyacht – allegedly).
Category One winners Queen Dolly and Wuheida are among the dams of the 16 latest litters to be registered by the Greyhound Stud Book.
They include a couple of litters by Magical Bale and another couple by his son Signet Denver, whose brother Signet Otis is still in the Derby. So far, there have been 28 British litters registered this year.
A second win for the litter following Distant Emma‘s victory in the Time Greyhound Nutrition Three Steps To Victory at Sheffield. The litter includes Distant Podge, winner of the Puppy Classic and now in the Derby quarters. Another brother, Ballyard Shawny finished third in the Silver Salver. Among the other ‘Distants’ are: ‘George (A1 Sheff., now hurdling) Brian (O/R 29.19 Towc), Oscar (O/R 285m), Prince (O/R Sheff) and Flash (Swindon grader, retired ‘awk’). Completing the litter is the only other bitch, Neon On Moon (A6 Harlow). Their dam won three opens for Patrick Janssens during a brief racing career (29.85-515m Hove). Lemon Lucy was an open class sprinter and half sister to Juvenile Classic winner Farloe Calvin.
Low Pressure is from a litter than includes the injury prone open winner Gripwell Bridie. The dam won 4 times in 26 races, best 28.88. There have been plenty of decent winners from the dam line including Lauren’s half sister Huarache Madison (who reached Oaks and Yorkshire Leger finals) and half brother Ridgemount Gump, who contested a Northern Sprint Final.
Flashing Willow is among a long list of early paced hounds (Swanley Bale, Signet Mafia, Droopys Steel) by the runner-up in the 2022 open race sire’s table, Laughil Blake. In the top 20 sires, only Ballymac Best (410m) had a lower average winning distance than Blake’s, 417m. Willow’s dam Cabbage was beaten in her only two races. There was nothing of particular note in her two previous litters though Derby Nelson (by Pestana), who clocked 28.40 at Limerick and has won his first two opens for Jimmy Wright (see above) shows plenty of promise.
The renamed Carrick Fergie was originally Droopys Etcetera and comes from one of the most powerful dam lines in Ireland. Zero was a 28.70s winner at both Dublin tracks. Her first Laughil Blake litter included the beaten English Oaks favourite Skywalker Cilla. Droopys Valerie threw Romford Puppy Cup winner Young Princess. As for Droopys Laramie, you might have spotted her in one of the other pedigrees. . . .
