Fernando Bale

HOW the world can change!

What appears just five minutes ago when My Bro Fabio was Australia's super sprinter, now the name on everyone's lips is Fernando Bale.

Two minutes before that it was Dyna Villa and before that it was Keybow.

That is the want of greyhound racing, especially sprinters. A new superstar can come along every few months to change the entire face of racing.

I'm seeing and hearing talk by broodbitch owners of their want, need, even desperation, to use Fernando Bale (Kelsos Fusileer-Chloe Allen by Primo Uno) at stud.

It is a natural move considering the dog is a superstar galloper already the winner of the Egg and National Derby and the second fastest ever around Sandown.

He looks to have a mortgage on the Group 1 Harrison-Dawson at Sandown this week.

It's only natural broodbitch owners would warm to him, some of them are even having a "hot flush" about the possibility.

So, can Fernando make it at stud?

Let's dissect him, his pedigree, and look at his chances of becoming a champion sire.

So, where do we start?

Fernando is by the US stud dog Kelsos Fusileer a son of the great US stud dog Gable Dodge and the Irish bitch Lassinagh Silky.

Gable Dodge is a direct descendant of legend Downing. His line has never really been an influence in Australia but lack of opportunities may have accounted for much of that.

Lassinagh Silky is by Arrigle Buddy whose greatest claim to fame is that he sired No Can Waltz a champion in Germany.

Yes…I too was unaware greyhound racing even existed in Germany.

But Arrigle Buddy is hugely in-bred to the famous broodbitch Skipping Chick which to a degree explains why he has been successful as a broodbitch sire.

Lassinagh Silky's mother Last Boher is a litter sister to Irish Derby and Champion Stakes winner Ardfert Mick.

Way back in the early 1990s, I inspected Ardfert Mick at his trainer Matt O'Donnell's property in Ireland.

I found him the most timid greyhound I have ever come into contact with, and by that time he was already at stud.

The daughters of Lassinagh Silky have produced moderately at best. Southland Grade AA winner Kelsos Blackburn is the best.

On the racetrack, Kelsos Fusileer was stakes class but not a stakes winner.

I asked a good friend, based in Boston, who has been in greyhound racing all his life for his thoughts on Kelsos Fusileer.

His exact reply is:

"Kelsos Fusileer won 10 AA's at Wheeling Downs when he ran there back in 2005-06. At one stage he rattled off three in a row which by any standard is a good thing. Wheeling Downs is a noted speed track and he did come from behind to win most of his races.

"He was a good racer at Wheeling Downs but was he as good as Rhythmless and Greys Calibrator who also ran there. I don't think so.

"As a stud dog he has produced some solid dogs over here but nothing outstanding. He wasn't a dog the breeders were rushing to breed to. My honest opinion of him was he was a good dog but not a great one.

"Now on the other hand you see what he produced in Fernando Bale, a dog better than himself, when mixed up with your Australian blood."

So there you have it.

My own research on Kelsos Fusileer shows Fernando Bale is a standout, by a long, long way, in his stud career.

So, Kelsos Fusileer was a top grade dog but not a star. At stud he has been handy at best (until Fernando). His lines have a smattering a good and some very good, but lots of moderate.

So to Fernando's damline.

Dam, Chloe Allen (Primo Uno-Rosemary Bale) is from a great Wheeler family.

Chloe Allen was second in the SA Oaks and a multiple city winner. Her first two litters, to Dyna Lachlan and Cosmic Chief, are moderate and that's giving them a very big wrap.

But to Kelsos Fusileer she has also produced Group winner Elfen Bale.

Chloe Allen carries two very important Irish crosses in her pedigree, that of Moral Standards and Silver Ball and I have already written of the link to Kelsos Fusileer's dam Lassinagh Silky with that pair.

Chloe Allen is a half sister to champion stayer Jarvis Bale who didn't get an early go at stud with the exception of Paul Wheeler's own bitches.

He has sired Allen Deed the winner of the Adelaide Cup and track record holder at The Meadows at 29.37.

He is a multiple Group finalist but has already blotted his name with an indiscretion.

Chloe's second dam Kobie Bale is a sister to Carlton Bale and Hahn Bale who, after quality race careers in Australia, went to Ireland-England to stud.

Carlton Bale was handy, Hahn Bale got much less opportunity and was poor.

Chloe Allen's sire Primo Uno was a top class sire. His sons at stud are headed by the lightly used, but highly successful Turanza Bale (an in-bred and balanced pedigree).

Other sons of Primo Uno to get a go at stud include Train A Journey, Enry Walt, On Coin, Stagger, Run The Risk and Surgeon.

Chloe's dam is by Awesome Assassin and he has proved himself at stud. His son Collision is champion sire.

Chloe's second dam is a daughter of Head Honcho, a legend and huge source of chase. Chloe is in-bred and balanced to Head Honcho's sire Walkabout Sid (the recipe for success with Primo Uno).

So, there we have it!

Fernando Bale is the son of a good race dog but a fair sire (until the emergence of Fernando himself).

Dam Chloe Allen was a good race bitch, and a half sister to a champion who has sired a super sprinter.

So what can Fernando hang his hat on to become a success at stud?

He is a super fast sprinter able to run track record (or near track record) times. That is a MAJOR plus in his chances.

He's a multiple Group 1 winner and hasn't finished yet. He's just a baby and the next six months on the racetrack will allow him to become a great.

Those are pretty big plusses in his favour as a potential stud dog. It will attract him to broodbitches owners for certain.

The downside?

He is an example of great diversity in his pedigree…US, Irish and Aussie bloodlines.

The great stud dogs of Australia in the past few decades, the breed shapers, have all been intensely in-bred…Collision, Bombastic Shiraz, Where's Pedro, Hallucinate, Surf Lorian etc, way back to the legend of them all Temlee.

Such intensity of blood allows them to be pre-potent and generally dominate the broodbitches they mate.

Those not so intensely in-bred must rely on pedigrees being put together to greatly suit them.

And that is not always done by broodbitch owners who look more to "flavor of the month" than what best suits their bitch.

Fernando Bale will get his chance at stud. I, for one, will watch him closely and "hope" such a great race dog lives up to his racetrack deeds when he retires.

My thoughts on him are that he MUST mate bitches with Irish bloodlines, MUST reinforce the Wheeler damline, MUST double Head Honcho (ideally via Go Wild Teddy), and is a natural for daughters of Collision.