“I was only saying the other day, the day that little girl came into our life, changed our lives completely”

The moment of magic being described by Kevin Hutton was the day that Droopys Danneel arrived at the kennel in June 2012. On Sunday, three of Daneel’s ‘grandchildren’ landed the tricast in the BGBF Puppy Cup at Towcester, and they were headed by Moments Of Magic.

There was just a length and a half between the trio though their trainer was the first to admit that he would probably have predicted the wrong order of finish.

He said: “To be honest, I thought the draw looked made for Denver and I wasn’t sure that the two bitches would get a clear run. As it unfolded, they did and Moments Of Magic showed exactly how fast she is. We’ve always known she had ability, it was just waiting for the penny to drop. Now it has.”

Magical Bale/Forest Natalee litter

Kevin is predicting that there is much more to come from the January 20 litter by the kennel’s 2017 Towcester Puppy Derby winner Magical Bale out of their Irish Oaks winner Forest Natalee.

They are from Natalee’s third litter. The first by Laughil Blake included Steel City Cup favourite Signet Ace and sprint star Signet Mafia. Produce Stakes runner-up Bernard was the best of her second and biggest litter to date, by Droopys Jet.

There were three dogs and seven bitches in the Magical Bale litter, of which seven have so far made the track.

Kevin said: “There was another dog in the litter, a lovely dog, but he hurt his back during rearing and John (Mullins) found him a home. There is a nice bitch called Westwell Emer who was injured and has just trialled back at Towcester. I couldn’t believe that she clocked 29.80 in her trial. Martin Lanney, who trained Natalee to win the Oaks, has a bitch pup who I believe is just about qualifying in Ireland.

“But I think the best in the litter could prove to be Signet Otis. Apart from anything else he has the most early pace. Overall, I think they could prove to be the best of the litters to date in terms of strength in depth. The Droopys Jets were probably the most disappointing, the cross obviously didn’t quite work. There is also a six month old litter by Confident Rankin, unfortunately there are only three in the litter, though they are stunning.

“I would hope that there is a lot more to come from the Magical Bales. Apart from the fact that his dogs seem to improve after two years of age, unlike dogs you might buy from Ireland, where they might have been intensively schooled, we know precisely what these have had. They were reared by John and schooled by Dave Pruhs and all they had were a couple of two and three dog trials.”

 

Following on from the Natalee pups are a couple of pups by Confident Rankin out of Magical Vera. Then there is a five week old litter by Droopys Danneel’s most famous son, Dorotas Wildcat out of Galloping Moon. Hopefully in whelp following another mating to Wildcat is Not Too Late, who is a brilliantly fast litter sister to Cold As Ice.

Kevin said: “These British bred competitions make a huge difference when it comes to deciding to breed. Rab has been cleaning them up for years. But even with dogs that aren’t Category One class, there are events that they can win. As the price of Irish dogs goes up, even more so if VAT comes back, I can see British breeding continue to expand.

“But its more than that. As lucky as we have been with dogs we have bought in, it definitely brings an extra dimension to it when you’ve watched them grow up.”

As for the lady who started it – now 11 years old?

“The last I heard Danneel was living out a lovely retirement as a much loved family pet in Northern Ireland”

Kevin Hutton’s fantastic 1-2-3 by the Magical Bale – Forest Natalee Jan ’20 littermates in the BGBF Puppy Cup. Winner Moments Of Magic wears her jacket flanked by runner up Signet Denver (left) and Sleek By Design. Towcester 17th October 2021 Photo: © Steve Nash