Super-brood Forest Natalee is winner of the GBGB Best Dam of British Bred for the second year running thanks to her 2020 mating to Magical Bale – an exceptional pairing which picked up four Category One titles last year.
Remarkably, five from this litter contested the final of the Produce Stakes at Swindon, which was won by Signet Denver – his second Category One success following on from victory in the Arena Company Racing Laurels at Perry Barr. He also followed up with a Category Two success in the BGBF Stud Book Trophy Final at Towcester.
Forest Natalee’s other offspring to land major competitions in 2022 include Signet Otis, winner of the BGBF Nottingham Breeders Stakes in March, and the John Mullins-trained Signet Goofy who won the BresBet Steel City Cup in October.
This batch set their stall out in 2021 and underlined their potential when they filled the first three places in the BGBF Puppy Cup Final at Towcester where Moments of Magic led home Signet Denver and Sleek By Design for a superb litter 1-2-3 for trainer and breeder Kevin.
Forest Natalee was herself a Classic-winning bitch on the track, trained during her Irish career by Martin Lanney, and here in the UK by her owner Kevin Hutton. She won the 2017 Sporting Press Irish Oaks at Shelbourne Park, was voted Irish Bitch of the Year in the same year and is herself a member of one of the most successful litters of recent times.
A May 2015 daughter of Ballymac Vic and Droopys Danneel, she is therefore a litter sister of Dorotas Wildcat (English Derby), Dorotas Woo Hoo (Scottish Derby), Forest Con (Midland Puppy Derby) and Dorotas Vic (English/Scottish Derby finalist).
Liz Mort, chair of the British Greyhound Breeders’ Forum, said:
“Congratulations to Kevin and Donna. It is fantastic to see Forest Natalee winning this prestigious award for the second year in a row – she and they thoroughly deserve it. She really is proving to be a Super-Brood! She has another, very promising, litter by Droopys Sydney coming through now – they are nine months, April 2022, and we are all very much looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
“Her Magical Bale litter has been remarkable this year and we hope to see more of them in 2023. One we sadly won’t see on the track is Signet Denver who has retired – but the plan is for him to go to Stud so we could be seeing his offspring take the prizes in a few years’ time!
“Fabulous Artist is also an amazing dam. She is the product of 30 years of careful breeding by David Firmager. You can’t do better than counting a Derby winner in your litter, can you! And Fabulous Azurra, who won our BGBF Derby for the second year in a row in December, then went to Shelbourne and won the Bitch’s race in their Winter Festival! A fantastic achievement and another feather in the cap of British Breeding.”
Runner-up in the GBGB Best Dam of British Bred 2022 rankings was Fabulous Artist, with BGBF British Bred Derby hero Fabulous Azzura and last year’s Star Sports English Greyhound Derby hero Romeo Magico the major contributors.
