I have been asked by the editor to nominate the best young prospect I have seen in recent months and one dog stands out for me – Dorotas Wildcat, trained by Kevin Hutton. He has only raced once but beat Take The Crowd on merit clocking 29.62 at Nottingham (500). His pace along the backstraight was pure class.
I had a chat with Kevin after the race and couldn’t help but be impressed by everything about the dog; he is an absolute stunner and definitely one to keep an eye open for in 2017.
Thus Dorotas Wildcat received his first mention on this website. The author of the piece was Patrick James Rosney and the date – 18 January 2017.
From his very earliest days, Dorotas Wildcat just oozed class. Of course at that stage, we weren’t quite sure whether he was ‘the one’. He had at least four or five cracking littermates. Some reckoned ‘Woo Hoo’ could be the senior brother. ‘Vic’ had a few fans too. A little later sister Forest Natalee entered the scene with some near record breaking sprint runs at Swindon.
In fact, Dorotas Wildcat’s had laid down some pretty impressive clues as to his potential brilliance even before that stunning debut. Two calculated 28.40 runs for the 480 metres at Swindon in his qualifying trials and a 17.69 first look at the Nottingham sprint at 19 months old.
His first major event was the 2018 Ladbrokes Puppy Derby at Monmore. An odds-on favourite in his semi final, he stumbled at the first bend and finished third (2 qualify) behind another emerging youngster called Forest Con. Who? Oh yes – another incredible litter brother who duly polished off the final, beating Woo Hoo into second, with yet another brother, Dorotas Hooligan, down the field.
Beaten in his next two, The Cat won his next four, including a 28.35 run back at Swindon and a 29.08 track record for the Towcester 500 metres. It was his penultimate race as a pup.
The huge black was just turned two when he contested the 2017 Greyhound Derby. It ended with a “StmbStt,EP,Bmp1&2&3” fourth place in the second round but he bounced back to win the Derby Plate at 2-5f in a time of 28.90 – two spots quicker than the Derby final.
A month later, he returned to Nottingham to win one of the classiest races of the year, the Betfred Select Stakes.
Such was the excitement generated that just eight days later, we were presented with
After a winter break, Wildcat returned for the 480m Astute Missile Gold Cup at Towcester and after wins in heats and semis (27.789 & 27.97 calc), he was “EP,Bmp1&1/4” when beaten by joint favourite King Turbo.
Wildcat would finish first or second in his next 13 races (10 wins, 3 seconds), including of course this particular event on 2 June 2018.
Then of course there was this. After trialling in 29.33 for Nottingham’s 500 metres, he clocked 29.38 in the first round and 29.35 in the semis. This is his 29.35 run in the decider. . .
The 2018 Greyhound of the Year title soon followed.
The Cat’s third season of racing started slowly after an undetected virus but he nevertheless reminded punters of the old cliche about the permanence of class.
Narrowly beaten in the 2019 Star Sports/ARC/LPS Derby first round, he won his next three outings including a career best 29.28 for Nottingham’s 500 metres in the third round. Not bad for a veteran!
The sight of The Cat being outrun from second place in the Derby semi finals would have flashed up warning signs that all was not well. Even had he held on for third place, the detection of a whip muscle injury would have inevitably meant only five runners going into today’s Derby draw.
Wildcat’s career lasted for 41 expertly managed races for 26 wins and 8 seconds.
And so onto the next stage of his life. That first ‘kittens’ out of Ballyoak Badger are old enough to run their qualifying trials this month. There were seven British bred litters born in 2018 and there will surely be many more to come.
It has been a remarkable career, for an amazing greyhound, trained to perfection throughout.
A truly great champion and a credit to the sport.
Floyd Amphlett
Editor
24/6/19
