Black Saharrah

I'M pretty sure even his most ardent admirer Paul Westerveld will agree Meticulous has initially struggled to make a real impact at stud.

That is until just lately.

Meticulous (Brett Lee-Dance Portrait) won the Topgun, the Silver Chief and Traralgon Cup. He was among the best sprinters of his time.

He is bred on an identical cross to leading sires Where's Pedro and his litter brother Hallucinate.

That pair is by Brett Lee and from a daughter of Bobniak (a son of Paris Match who is a genetic sister to Brett Lee's sire Gun Law Osti).

Meticulous too is by Brett Lee from a daughter of Bobniak.

I admit, I believed Meticulous would be able to upgrade the broodbitches he mated when he went to stud and become a successful sire, just like his close relations Where's Pedro and Hallucinate.

I'm sure Paul Westerveld would have believed the same.

The fact Meticulous is from the same damline as proven sire Primo Uno was another factor in his favour.

But Meticulous has found it a bit of a struggle.

This is not through want of trying on Paul Westerveld's behalf. I have noticed Paul has used him a number of times and tried special matings with Meticulous.

A number of the fabulous Star Witch damline have gone to Metciulous and have produced dogs of the quality of Enhanced.

The brilliant littermates Tina Sparkle and Get Square are bred this way as well.

Meticulous produced a very good litter out of Proven Model (No Intent-Proven Booty) which includes a number of city class gallopers.

This, of course, brought in a link between Sobbing Sal and her sister Hot Show Deb (New Tears-Wee Sal) the latter in a very powerful position.

The litter that includes Crowie Lomar (Meticulous-True Shine by Collision) is also bred along this line with True Shine's tail female line tracing to Malagro Sal a half sister to Sobbing Sal and Hot Show Deb.

Which brings me to the heats of the Group 1 Maturity that were held at The Meadows last Saturday night.

Among the heat winners was Black Saharrah (Meticulous-Giddigan). This bitch has already been a finalist in the Group 1 Laurels and Group 2 Cranbourne Cup.

She has as her littermates the Group class bitches Budgie Lass and Coolan Miss. The latter recently 29.38 around Sandown and was also a finalist in the Laurels, as was Budgie Lass.

It is a litter that has lifted Meticulous back into the spotlight where he deserves.

It is also a litter that to my way of thinking, was produce with great thought and deserved the success it has achieved already with the promise of much more to come.

Dam Giddigan (PuzzlePrize-Chersam Honcho) was a multiple city winner always the first port of call for breeding success.

Her dam Chersam Honcho won the Laurels herself, was a finalist in the Maturity and has been an excellent producer.

This is the damline that traces directly to Select Band (Lively Band*-Our Main Avenue*) who was a Melbourne Cup finalist back in 1980.

Her own dam, the imported Our Main Avenue was a multiple Group winner back in Ireland one of her victories coming in the Irish Oaks.

Our Main Avenue has many crosses of champion producers Negro's Fire and her champion producing daughter Quare Fire.

Select Band had five crosses of Quare Fire in her pedigree.

Giddigan, dam of Black Saharrah, Budgie Lass and Coolan Miss (and others), is line bred to Centrefire and her brother Shining Chariot one of the great crosses found in many fine gallopers.

When she was mated to Meticulous, it brought in a 4x3 daughter duplication of Head Honcho that noted source of chase.

While this is a strong aspect of the pedigree, I don't believe it is solely the source of the success of the litter.

A number of the progeny of Meticulous are bred on the duplication of Head Honcho but have not achieved the type of success of Black Saharrah etc.

Look closely and you will see that Lovely Portrait (second dam of Meticulous) and Chersam Honcho are bred on a very similar cross.

Both are by Head Honcho. Lovely Portrait's dam is by Chariot Supreme. Chersam Honcho's dam is by Shining Chariot a son of Chariot Supreme.

Bringing in similarly bred ancestors within a pedigree can help to upgrade for racetrack success, not necessarily, but it can help.

So what could be the real success behind this mating.

Firstly, I believe it is because the damline of Black Saharrah and her star littermates is a fabulous one, boasting Group class at just about every generation, or at least better than average city class bitches.

Then we can trace a link between Nikki Bairn (fourth dam of Meticulous) and Riviera Tiger the sire of Black Saharrah's fourth dam Rosen Memories.

Riviera Tiger, the Adelaide Cup winner, was a son of Temlee-Riviera Moss.

Nikki Bairn, the Olympic Park Sprint Champion, was a daughter of Chief Dingaan (Temlee-Zulu Moss).

All breeding buffs will know Zulu Moss and Riviera Moss were litter sisters being by Clay Moss-Cursorial.

The position of Chief Dingaan and Riviera Tiger within the mating of Meticulous-Giddigan, despite what many will believe, gives them a strong chance of impacting this mating.

Black Saharrah, Coolan Miss and Budgie Lass are not champions.

But they are Group 1 finalists and multiple city winners.

They are potential broodbitch goldmines.

That will certainly enable Meticulous to remain in pedigrees to come for many, many years.

It might also give breeders of today a guide when planning matings to Meticulous.