After two almost barren years, the KSS Syndicate are back among the pups with the arrival of two superbly bred litters.
On December 16 Produce Stakes winner/Oaks runner-up Queen Jessiej produced three dogs and five bitches by Ireland’s most popular stud dog, Droopys Sydney. On December 30, Derby semi finalist Queen Beyonce produced five dog and one bitch pup by the same sire.
Queen Beyonce with her new litter
It marked the end of a horrendous period for the leading British bred kennel of the last decade. A series of failed matings and puppy mortalities, brought about by a herpes infection, had decimated the operation.
Rab McNair said: “We are so excited. They are two fabulous litters and we have to thank Sean and Michael Dunphy. Their record for getting bitches in pup is exceptional.
Queen Jessiej and family. Photos: Rab McNair (“you can tell Steve Nash that his job is safe”)
“Ideally it would have been nice to have January pups, rather than December, for the sake of the Produce Stakes. But if they are good enough, it makes no difference. We are just thrilled to have them.”
Thankfully, there is some home bred interest while the two newest litters grow up. The first litter of King Sheeran pups out of King Danni are about to be schooled while there is a Queen Anna litter still in the paddocks.
Meanwhile ‘granny’ Skate On has decided that the kennels are no longer suitable accommodation. Could you put that fire on wee man?
There is a busy few weeks coming up for the kennel starting with the first of two trips to Newcastle on Thursday with preparatory trials for the forthcoming ARC Northern Puppy Derby.
In the van will be 29.17 Towcester winner Havana Bale Out (Feb 20), the 28.74 Central Park trialist Havana Lover (Aug 20) and 29.24 Central Park trialist Havana Robursto (Aug 20).
Rab said: “The plan is to trial them and see how they take to the track. At this stage we will probably trial them on the next two Thursdays. I wouldn’t have considered going if they hadn’t increased the prize money to £10K to the winner. It still isn’t enough but it is definitely a step in the right direction and I feel I should support it.”
On Friday, ante post favourite Warzone Tom takes his place in the semi finals of the Coral Essex Vase.
Rab said: “I was really pleased with the run. I brought him in fresh and he needed the run, particularly on that going. There is a lot of early pace in that semi final and he can’t afford to make a mistake.
“I wouldn’t swap him for any other dog in the competition but I was impressed with a few of the others and would expect them to go even closer this week. Coolavanny Aunty ran a great race after being held up in the early stages and I would fancy her strongly in that semi final.
“But Paul Burr’s dog (Drumdoit Bomber) and Antigua Princess both look very capable of giving us a run in our semi final.”
Other kennel plans include attempts at the Northamptonshire Sprint, followed by the Golden Sprint for Havana Class.
Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, some of the fastest dogs in England, including the great Mile Bush Pride, traveled to Carntyne on the train, contested the Scottish Derby heats at a matinee meeting and then ran the 525 yard final later that evening.
On the flaps, many continued to stage heats of competitions for the first two races of a meeting and the finals for the last races on the card.
So the suggestion that a GBGB rule is to be changed that will prevent a greyhound running twice in four days has not gone down well with the Kent based Scotsman.
He said: “I’m raging! I have dogs that need to run more than that to maintain fitness. If I can’t race them I will want to trial them, or gallop them. Has every trainer got a gallop? Is it safer than the track? When we ran those dogs twice in a night, on one hundred times out of a hundred, the finals would have been won in quicker times than the heats.
“It is only just over two years ago that I ran King Dylan and King Lennon in the British Bred Derby and the Essex Vase which were both running at the same time. Both dogs made both finals, which were four days apart, and although they didn’t win either, that was probably the time that I had them in the best form of their careers.
“But what really pisses me off is that trainers are being treated like imbeciles. Its like the trials that you have to run. Can you imagine Willie Mullins or Aidan O’Brien being told when and where they could run their horses? They wouldn’t dare.
“But GBGB and the tracks think they can treat trainers like idiots. There has been no consultation whatsoever. Should we be telling them how to run their tracks?
“Let trainers train. If you don’t think they are capable of training, don’t give them a licence. If GBGB want to run the kennels, let them pay the kennel bills. And I can tell you, 50p a day won’t cut it.”
