“I think they have won over 130 races between them. In fact, they have kept us going over the last couple of years.”
When Sharpys Pluto and Sharpys Jimmy go into next week’s BGBF British Bred Derby Final at Sheffield, it will just another achievement for a fabulous litter bred by John Sharp in April 2017.
Pluto – who finished runner-up in last year’s ‘Three Steps’ also reached last year’s British Bred Derby final, along with another litter brother, Sharpys Rocket. He also made the decider of the British Breeders Stake at Nottingham but finished fourth in last night’s semis.
In fact, all ten pups – eight dogs and two bitches – by Viking Jack out of Malls Pet, made it to the track and have won races. Nine of the ten carry the Sharpys prefix, the other is Catrigg Clay.
John said: “He was the pick of the litter at three months old and turned out to be the slowest so I gave the owner his money back. But he is still going. Five of them have now been re-homed. Balina had a minor injury, Janneka wasn’t really up to it, Hawk had a minor wrist problem, Jack broke a hock. Regan just had a few niggles but he had nearly 70 races on his card and I re-homed him a fortnight ago.
“They have been a great litter for me; Rocket has nearly had 100 races and is still going strong. I would have had another litter out of the dam, but she had to be sterilised to save her life. But she did us proud.”
The Wakefield based handler has another litter coming through and is hoping they can be even a fraction as good as the previous bunch.
He said: “They are by Lemon Pumba out of Copeland Betty. She was a big girl and so are the pups; the bitches are around 32 kilos and the dogs are around 40 kilos. They are 20 months old now, but I didn’t want to start them too early because of their size. There are at least a couple in there who are showing some real promise.”
