Patricia’s Hope, Indian Joe, Parkdown Jet, Hit The Lid, Chart King, Rio Quattro . . . .
Shelbourne Aston, Climate Control, Judicial Pride, Batties Rocket, Make History, Tubbercurry Lad
The first lot are a group of exceptional English Derby winners. The second lot were all exceptional Irish Derby winners.
The one thing they all had in common is that they were failed stud dogs.
When champions retire from racing, their track careers are trotted out as evidence that they are expected to pass on their genes to their progeny.
However history shows that there is little correlation between the two attributes. The examples above could be extended into the dozens. Indeed, probably the two most high profile dogs to race in either country, Mick The Miller and Spanish Battleship, both bombed as stud dogs.
If champions don’t (necessarily) make great stud dogs, maybe we should be looking at the problem from the opposite angle.
Who are the champion sires and what can we learn from their backgrounds?
Well for a start, a decent percentage of them didn’t even race in the UK or Ireland.
The American and Australian imports imports have been hugely influential, as was British bred Westmead Hawk. (The remainder in black typeface are Irish bred).
Now I would dearly love to reveal a golden thread that links all these great stud dogs – beyond the obvious – but I’ve never found it.
Instead, I see a fabulous collection of stories that only underscore the complexity and uncertainty of breeding. Here are a few observations:
The Good Things
My starting point is Linda’s Champion, the only Irish Derby winner on the list, and the natural heir to Monalee Champion, who was the top sire of the 1970s. Now you would expect Linda’s Champion to make it. He fits the profile of what a stud dog should be.
Whisper Wishes probably represents the ultimate ‘Golden Balls’ of breeding. A Select Stakes winner as a pup, he went unbeaten through the last Derby at White City. He was fast, consistent and the natural successor to his sire Sand Man who was all the rage by the mid-1980s. Wishes pups matured very quickly, thus overplaying their potential – so Irish breeders loved him too.
By the time that Murlens Slippy went to stud, he looked a certainty to make it to the top. He had reached English and Irish Derby Finals, finishing second at Shelbourne where he won a Guinness 600. His sire I’m Slippy was tearing up trees on the stud front and Marie Murphy’s ‘Murlens’ dam line, descended from Pat Dalton’s Maythorn Pride dynasty was also in its pomp. Interestingly though Murlens Slippy was from a very different mould to his father. A product of a tough stamina laden dam line, he passed that onto his pups. Overall though, given his natural advantages, it might be argued that he under-achieved.
Droopys Vieri – like Whisper Wishes, was almost of royal ascent. He was one of the earliest and most successful sons of Top Honcho from a brilliant litter that included Droopys Woods and Droopys Honcho. His dam was the brilliant Droopys Fergie and although he spent most of his career on British tracks, he had won the Irish Puppy Derby so was familiar to Irish breeders. He was given a great launch by the Dunphy brothers though it did not harm that among his first handful of bitches was Dessie Loughrey’s She Knew. By the time her daughter Farloe Verdict reached the track, everyone knew.
Slight Question Marks?
Ironically, when I’m Slippy went stud, the recent record for English Derby winners was almost a handicap. Prior to Slippy in 1983, there hadn’t been a decent one in years. Added to that, he was by Laurdella Fun, a cracking sire of early pace but never anywhere near the top of the stud dog tables. And then there was the dam line that was probably as familiar on the Northern Irish coursing fields as it was on the track. (Indeed Slippy is probably the last great sire from a coursing dam line). There were also doubts about the white and blue brindle’s own stamina. His National Sprint win over 435 yards at Dunmore seemed way more natural than the 500 metres at White City. He would have struggled much more over the Wimbledon Derby course with its shorter trip but longer run-in. Nevertheless, Slippy was sensational at stud and remains one of the greatest ever sires of early pace.
Greenpark Fox was also under a shadow when he went to stud with many breeders convinced that champion sprinters don’t make good stud dogs. The reality is, Fox broke the Dundalk 500 yard track record early in his career and only switched to sprints due to injury. His progeny were brilliant and included Irish Derby winner Manx Treasure. But his light would prove as short as it was bright. The Bright Lad/Liberty Lad sire line was known to be prone to cancer. Fox died aged eight, Treasure was only five.
Slaneyside Hare seemed destined to be a ‘nearly dog’. After breaking his leg within a week of winning the Sporting Life Juvenile, he went to stud in the UK and was struggling for matings. I spotted a couple of very good litters by him and persuaded the ‘Manx man’ John Guilford to buy him for £4,000 to stand alongside Greenpark Fox in Tipperary. Within a year, Fox was dead and Hare became a fabulous sire with progeny including Some Picture, He Knows, Knockeevan Star, Deep Decision, Vintage Prince and many more. But for fertility issues, he would have dominated for longer.
Droopys Jet is interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he promised more than he delivered on the track. He won the Champion Stakes in Ireland, was a semi finalist in the 2012 English Derby final and beaten favourite in the following year’s final. He certainly wasn’t the most successful dog of his era. He was also unusual in that he was by an ‘unfashionable’ (barely used) sire, Slip The Lark. What often goes unnoticed though is that his damline was phenomenal, his grand dam being the brilliant Little Diamond UK (more about her below). In short, Jet fits nicely into a group of dogs whose racing ability might have not been rewarded with trophies, but his class came out in his offspring.
For several years it was said that Nick Savva produced great dams but not great sires. There was an element of truth to it. But that changed, initially through a dog that Nick trained, but didn’t breed, Staplers Jo. Then through Jo’s son Larkhill Jo and half brother Sonic Flight. They were pure Westmeads on their mother’s side. It often goes unnoticed though that the Pride Of Britain, Westmead Hawk, had two Australian granddads (Frightful Flash/Smooth Rumble) and a predominantly Irish dam line.
However despite Hawk’s brilliant speed and track craft, this Achiles Heel was that he was bereft of great early pace. Had he stayed in training, he would certainly have returned to six bends and stayers always struggle with breeders. So what happened? Although he is often remembered for strong running types like Droopys Nidge, Eden The Kid, Millwards Teddy, Vulturi and many more, he also sired two early paced English Derby winners in Taylors Sky and Sidaz Jack. There were great daughters too, none better than Droopys Start (dam of Droopys Roddick, Billys Bullet, Touch Tackle). Hawk changed thinking on the essential need for early pace in breeding and only major fertility issues ruined an even greater career.
We didn’t trust foreigners!
Back in the early-1990s, Australian bloodlines weren’t even on the map for British and Irish breeders. A couple of fairly average Aussie dogs had been imported and made little headway. The man to change that – indeed the most influential person ever in Irish track breeding – was Portlaoise businessman Michael Dunne. He decided to invest heavily in buying a good class Aussie hound, then pay the flight and six months quarantine costs, before tackling the enormous task of convincing a nation of disbelievers.
I was asked for input and recommended Victoria based Yorkshireman Geoff Parnaby to find a dog. Several were considered but we opted for Frightful Flash. He was a top class hound with some superb clocks but without being a Melbourne/Australian Cup winner – was affordable. Geoff was convinced that Eaglehawk Star was Australia’s most under rated sire with astonishing brains and trackcraft (he appears twice in Westmead Hawk’s pedigree!) and would cross brilliantly with Irish bloodlines. Flash also had a brilliant litter sister, Iceni Princess. (Think: Ballymac Syd/Ballymac Tas).
Flash arrived and a new type of pup started appearing in the paddocks, predominantly black bodies and white stockings. That colouring was so rare back then, barring a few coursing saplings. They would soon be everywhere. The first Flashes hit the Irish tracks in the summer of 1995 and were soon winning stakes. But it was the May ’95 litter out of Ladys Guest that really put Flash on the map: Frightful Flash, Million Percent, Lydpal Frankie, Goals Galore, Impulsive Patch, Lady Flyaway . . .Later progeny would include Frisbys Full and Flashing, Fear No One, Midway Tomsscout, Iceman Brutus, Westmead Woofa. . . .
By the ‘twenty teens’ Irish bloodlines were saturated with Australian bloodlines and Michael Dunne went fishing in an American pond. American bloodlines had experienced some success via Sand Man (see below) and a freak litter by Pecos Jerry (a story for another day), but generally were not rated in Ireland. American dogs were perceived to be bred for stamina and endurance, not speed. Unlike the UK and Irish model, American dogs didn’t earn the big bucks from stud fees (at least most of them), they earned them with lengthy and lucrative racing careers. American breeders wanted durable pups and were equally happy with ‘three eighths’ (660yd) dogs as ‘five sixteenths’. A few American sired litters had emerged and most were reckoned to want two laps.
Michael Dunne thought he knew better – and not for the first time, he was right. His first breakthrough was with Southland Derby winner Hondo Black. He was by the brilliant racer EJs Douglas, whose stud career was less inspiring, and typically, had nearly 100 races on his card.
The first Hondo Black pups were born in 2003 and he soon established a reputation for a couple of reasons. 1) All his progeny were black 2) He could throw stars over all distances from sprinters like Boherbradda Mac, Halftime Show, gradually extending to Hiya Butt, Farloe Black, Farley Turbo, Wright Signal, Slippery Robert, Paradise Silva, Blonde Fern, Cleenas Lady, Farloe Trent, Toolatetosell, stretching into short six bends with Adageo Bob, Fivestar Clipper, Bridge Ruth, Vatican Jinky all the way through to Hather George, Go Edie Honda, Blue Bee, Aero Majestic, Farloe Tango and upwards. . .Musical Gaga, Maireads Ivy and so many more not mentioned
Just as he had done with Frightful Flash/Top Honcho, Michael Dunne clearly reckoned he could go for an upgrade and in the autumn of 2008 he unveiled his new star, the Derby Lane Sprint Classic winner Kinlock Brae.
By now, imports were fashionable and Brae had a far easier pathway to the top than Hondo Black or Frightful Flash. Blessed with being from a successful kennel, the big brindle hit the ground running with a litter that included Irish Derby winner Razldazl George and the equally impressive Razldazl Jayfkay. He hnever looked back: Ballymac Vic, Cabra Hurricane, Astute Missile, Bo Shine Bullet, Curious Boy, Siderian Blaze, All About Ted, Skilful Sandy, Riverside Honey and so many more. American bloodlines, bringing the return of fawns, brindles and a variety of unusual colours are here to stay.
You could never have imagined it . . .
For reasons that will become obvious, I have avoided including two of the most outstanding imports in the section above, because their road to the top was even less likely.
If Frightful Flash’s unlikely career path to international stud recognition seemed a big call, the odds against Top Honcho go beyond reasonable logic. It wasn’t that he lacked racing ability. He was a cracking young dog whose racing career was over after 16 races, eight wins including the South Australian Derby. He was from a small kennel and according to his owner trainer Jeff Wells in an article with David Brasch, Honcho was more of a house pet than a racer due to constant issues with a back problem and then at two years and eight months old he broke a leg after a trial.
To many people, Top Honcho was another “could have, should have, would have” champions. Sadly, there are plenty of them to choose from. He served a couple of bitches but there were many other sons of Head Honcho ahead of the South Australian in the pecking order. But Geoff Paranaby was in no doubt. He had tried to buy the black as a racing dog but with that option gone, he finally secured Top Honcho for $15K and then bought a plane ticket for Portlaoise, via Heathrow.
The son of Head Honcho would go on to become the most successful import ever – by a country mile. Others with bigger reputations followed, and many did well, but none could stand in his shadow.
Droopys Scolari wasn’t an import, he was Irish through and through which worked to his advantage at a time when the breeding paddocks were awash with Irish and American bloodlines. If you had been told in the early 2000s that an Irish bred dog, with no immediate Australian or American genes, was destined to become a top sire, you would have taken a pretty big bet that it was Droopys Maldini.
Maldini had everything going for him. A son of Droopys Kewell out of the British born Little Diamond, he had won a Champion Stakes, beating brother Droopys Marco and finished runner-up in two Irish Derby Finals for Fraser Black. Breeders were looking for some traditional European lines for their Top Honcho, Roanokee and Hondo Black bitches.
But it didn’t work out quite that way. Maldini wasn’t a disaster at stud, but he certainly wasn’t sensational either despite covering hundreds of bitches.
The dog who would seize that role would be Droopys Scolari. The blue was from a repeat mating to Maldini and didn’t have the benefit of a great career and a queue of broods at the kennel door. Scolari didn’t lack ability, but his career only lasted 10 races, the last of which saw him break a hock in the semi finals of the 2005 Produce Stakes at Clonmel.
Scolari was from the ‘see how he gets on’ school. Although he had the advantage of being in a top stud kennel, he wouldn’t have been in the top six or seven choices. Among those who had been impressed with Scolari’s early career was Nick Savva who sent along Mega Delight. But by the time Westmeads Bolt, Grant and Scolari reached the track, Scolari was already the ‘next big thing’.
To name a few? Rotar Wing, Loughteen Blanco, King Eden, King Kid, Do It For Twiggy, Southfield Jock, Scolari Me Daddy, Jaytee Jet, Drive On Tipp, Scolari Sound, Drumcrow Obama, Bockos Alfie, Rackethall Jess, Droopys Billy, Droopys Bogart, Ballymac Ramsey, Banabane, Glenpadden Rock, Dalcash Scolari, Barefoot Allstar, Mr Chow, Afew Dollarsmore, Union Jack, Shaneboy Spencer, Roxholme Scolari, Queen Asia . . . .
FINALLY – if ever there was an example of how – despite all our best efforts, Mother Nature controls the game – I cite the case of Sand Man. Whelped in August 1973, he raced at under 29 kilos and was basically a good grader at Yuma in Arizona and Pueblo in Colorado never getting to within eight lengths of the track record. He was probably the fourth best member of the litter, though the fastest of them, Highway Robber was many lengths faster and made an ‘All American’ Final (for the best eight dogs that year).
Sand Man was apparently due to be put to sleep at the end of his racing career – as were so many American dogs in the 1970s – but US Navy padre Father Dan Greene decided to pay the considerable cost of sending the dog back to Ireland to stand at stud. Breeder Peter Franklin was keen to use an American sire, even though imports had a very average reputation at the time.
Thousands were spent getting the dog to Limerick and through quarantine. Madness! He arrived in January 1978 and Franklin spent a year trying to persuade breeders to follow his lead and use the dog. In total he managed 22 matings (many of Franklin’s own bitches) and never looked back. Sand Man threw open racers out of average bitches though one litter stood out among all the others. It was bred by John Dalton out of Maythorn Pride and in addition to stud dog Sand Black, it included the greatest number of outstanding brood bitches ever produced in a single litter headed by Irish Oaks winner Strange Legend, Miss Hilary, Kasco Lady, Slight Chill, Bleak Weather and Miss Peel.
Those broods made literally millions of dollars for Pat Dalton and are still going today. (Check the dam lines of Antigua Lava, Savana Volcano and you will find Bleak Weather.)
When Sand Man’s stud career was over, he had thrown the winners of virtually every major race including English and Irish Derby winners. Here are the pick of the bunch: Whisper Wishes, Dipmac, Scurlogue Champ, Easy And Slow, Game Ball, Track Man, Lodge Prince, Flashy Sir, Minnies Matador, Track Man, Sandy Sally and so on . . . .
There will be more articles to come on stud dogs in the coming weeks and months, but understanding the uncertainty over what makes a great stud dog is an important first step
Winter Derby winner King Turbo with Rab McNair and Brendan Keogh. Hove 7th March 2019 Photo: © Steve Nash
King Turbo – the most successful British bred dog of recent years has returned to Britain and joined Richard Devenish at Glatton in Cambridgeshire.
The son of Leamaneigh Turbo and Wee Tiger Tots landed five Category One events – the Towcester Gold Cup, the Monmore Gold Cup, the Kent Derby, the Olympic and the Coral Winter Derby.
Rab McNair said: “Just for the record, none of them were confined British bred races, as some journalists always tried to make out, though he did win some other British races too.
“The best was probably the Tote Gold Cup where he beat Dorotas Wildcat, Calico Brandy and King Elvis int he final. He was the fastest greyhound I ever put a lead on. We will be sending some of our own bitches to him.
“Richard is building a great team there and I can see a big increase in British breeding. Looking at the price of Irish dogs now, you can justify breeding a litter.
“There was a time that you couldn’t get £800 for the slower dogs in the litter. Now, if I had any, I know of several trainers who would snap my hand off at £1,500. It makes sense to breed.”
