Designing a special pedigree

DON'T you just marvel over the might of the telephone and of course that thing we cannot do without…emails.

In the week or so since Shakey Jakey (Collision-Kiacatoo Pearl by History Lesson) zoomed to a Wentworth Park 520m track record of 29.07 at his race debut, my phone and emails have been running hot.

Did you see that!

What do you think of his pedigree?

It really doesn't matter what I think, David Pringle has put together a combination of staggering proportions.

Jakey isn't the only star in the litter…shades of the "Litter of the Century" the Pringle family designed when Amerigo Man, West Cape, Walkabout Sid, Bogenfel, Carnival Boy, Jet Cruiser, Half Nelson, etc, swept all before them in the late 1980s.

So, it's purely academic what I think of the pedigree that put together Shakey Jakey, but it might be worth a look anyway because it is extremely well done.

First, let's start with the immediate family.

Dam Kiacatoo Pearl (History Lesson-Naughty Thoughts) raced 16 times for six wins and three placings.

She ran 30.50 as a pup at Richmond and then won at Wentworth Park in 30.01 and 42.14.

So much was thought of her that she went to Albion Park to finish fifth in a heat of the Gold Cup behind Mantra Lad. It was her last race.

Lachlan's Gift, an unraced litter sister to Kiacatoo Pearl, was mated to Collision to produce the outstanding Jack's Joker the Gosford Mega Maiden winner and a finalist in the Group 1 National Derby in 2013 behind Jagger Swagger.

Kiacatoo Pearl's dam Naughty Thoughts (Go Wild Teddy-Ready To Rain) is from one of the strongest damlines this country has seen in the past decade or so.

It traces directly to a bitch called Monkey Jill (Arctic Light-Merbentyl) an outstanding Wentworth Park performer for the Pringles back in the mid 1970s.

Monkey Jill's litter sister Shalom City produced classy Narara City and Shady City.

Naughty Thoughts didn't do much on the racetrack winning once, a 440m maiden at Canberra and was placed just three times in nine starts.

It is an enigma for me that this female line seems to produce successful broodbitches that were not so hot on the racetrack.

But Naughty Thoughts is a litter sister to some very smart gallopers.

One is Midnight Amber a sub 30-second winner at Wentworth Park who went to Just The Best to produce Summer Cup winner Double Trouble, and National Futurity finalist Midnight Spirit.

Double Trouble, in a mating to Collision, produced Magnum Blast who apart from winning at Sandown, The Meadows and Wenty Park was also a finalist in the National Derby.

Have you noticed the successful trend here…Group performers are all coming from this female family when mated to Collision.

Yet another sister to Naughty Thoughts is Remember Molly who, in a mating to Surf Lorian, produced Maturity finalist Granitoid.

Naughty Thoughts is also a half sister to Naughty Nita, Why Complain and Waiting List (all by Worthy Reward-Ready To rain) who finished in the trifecta in the Group 1 Carnival Cup at The Meadows in 2002.

Group gallopers Reckless Charm and Lady Grey are granddaughters of Waiting List.

So, what we have here is a pretty hot family. It was made all the more important a couple of years ago when Spring Gun won the Group 1 Vic Peters and Midnight Capers won the Group 1 National Futurity.

Kiacatoo Pearl had already produced litters to Brett Lee in 2009 and El Grand Senor in 2011, before David Pringle saw the writing on the wall and realised Collision was his best option for this family.

Not that Brett Lee didn't do well with Kiacatoo Pearl. From the litter came Gundabooka winner of the Dapto Maiden Classic and Buck Fever who ran a Bathurst track record.

Putting Kiacatoo Pearl to Collision brings in some very special ancestors.

The first, and most important, is a 5x5 cross of Bowetzel and his half sister Shining Light along a path in this mating to provide great impact.

South Australia's current sprint star Sidney's Shadow, a pedigree put together by Pedigrees By Design, is also bred along this path to the same half rela-tions.

But, Shakey Jakey is also in-bred to Collision and his "close relation" Go Wild Teddy.

What? I can hear you say, "Collision and Go Wild Teddy are not related".

Oh, but they are…they are bred along a very similar cross and provide a perfect "balance" for each other within a pedigree.

They come into the pedigree of Shakey Jakey 1x3 and perfectly positioned to hugely impact with each other.

Both Collision and Go Wild Teddy are in-bred to the half brothers Acacia Park and Brother Fox. Significantly, in each pedigree they come via different sexes. In Collision, Acacia Park is via a son but via a daughter in Go Wild Teddy. In Collision, Brother Fox is via a daughter but in Go Wild Teddy is via a son.

Both Collision and Go Wild Teddy have dams by Malawi's Prince.

Waverly Supreme is also balanced via sons and a valuable DAUGHTER whenever Collision and Go Wild Teddy are combined.

So what do we have in the pedigree of the fastest greyhound ever to run around Wentworth Park?

We have two very vital line breedings…Bowetzel and his half sister Shining Light, as well as Collision and Go Wild Teddy who are bred along similar lines but also provide an ideal "balance" for each other.

Would Shakey Jakey have been as good if his pedigree didn't have both aspects?

Maybe, maybe not.

In the pedigree of Sidney's Shadow she not only has the powerful link of Shining Light and Bowetzel, but she is also in-bred to 3x3 to Brett Lee and his half sister Ballintore Beauty.

If one strong aspect is good for a pedigree, then two (and even more) must be even better.

Do I think Shakey Jakey can make it when he inevitably goes to stud?

Of course…and it might be sooner than you think.

He will be absolutely ideal for daughters of Where's Pedro and Hallucinate, and he has no Brett Lee or Black Shiraz in his pedigree.

Being a successful stud dog is all about having enough compatible lines available in the broodbitch pool of the day.

SATURDAY night's Group 1 Golden Easter Egg final has brought together a diversity of bloodlines which, naturally, is to be expected.

Ollie Bale is by Go Wild Teddy from a daughter of Collision (reverse to Shakey Jakey).

Five of the eight finalists are Paul Wheeler influenced, two of them by Wheeler stud dogs (so much for his stud dogs not being successful).

Magic Display is beautifully in-bred to the brothers Curryhills Fox and Curryhill Brute.

Jordan Allen (by Fear Zafonic) and Hawk Alone (by Westmead Hawk) are by imports but also carry imported influence through their dams as well.

Five of the eight finalists have no imported blood within their first three generations.

"Legend" Brett Lee is found in four of the eight finalists.

The dams of all eight finalists were winners and seven of them won city races, only Magic Display's dam Display Bonus (winner of 25 races) was not.

Six of the seven sires represented were a Group winner and almost all ran a track record.