OPEN RACE SIRES AND DAMS TABLES

He might have gone to meet his maker but Tullymurry Act has moved into joint top position on the open race sires table for the first four months of the year.

The Keith Allsop owned Irish Derby finalist has left behind many outstanding offspring over the years and none any more popular than King Elvis whose recent retirement to stud provides an outstanding opportunity for British breeders to tap into the Top H0ncho sire line.

Other Act offspring in the headlines this year include Droopys Live, Lightfoot Janna, Clash, Droopys Denny, Galloping Moon and Brinkleys Rosie to name but six.

It seems only a matter of time before Laughil Blake heads the table, though he has plenty of time and is engaged in a third place ‘early pace tussle’ with Droopys Jet.

King Elvis’ dam Skate On is in second place in a dam’s table which continues to be dominated by Droopys Loner.

Mark Gilbert’s bitch is five winners clear but has contributions from three different litters. The most recent addition is probably the fastest of all her offspring, Droopys Davy who won a heat of the Scottish Derby.

Unfortunately, Loner’s ‘big race’ tally is way short of what might be expected from a dam who also thrown hounds of the class of Davy and fellow Droopys, Martial, Bonucci and Georgio. But there is still time, particularly with her latest Droopys Roddick litter.

There is of course an interesting back story to this. Skate On finished runner-up in the 2012 Oaks Final with Loner back in fourth. So what happened to the rest of the finalists?

The winner of the final was Skate On’s kennelmate Droopys Hope, who barring a Gymcrack finalist in Riverside Escape, produced nothing else of note.

Third placed Forest Mollie threw a number of minor open racers, the best known being Jet Stream Snowy. Fifth placed Lemon Velvet appears regularly as an open race dam with her ‘Honoour’ pups, notably Jet and Turbo.

Aero Scramble was a non-runner. She later produced a couple of litters but nothing of note.

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