Midnight Dare
THE scorching 29.55 run by exciting young bitch Midnight Flare at Wentworth Park on Saturday night would have surprised no one, least not her breeders-owners David and Danielle Pringle.
That was especially after it came on top of best-of-the-day winning times at Coonamble (twice) and Bathurst.
Midnight Dare (Buck Fever-Midnight Capers by Collision) us unbeaten and her 11 length victory at Wenty could not have been more impressive. She's been starting at "Winx prices" in each of her races.
David Pringle has been breeding quality greyhounds for many, many years now.
He knows a proven formula, a winning recipe, what it takes to produce quality greyhounds ... quality like Midnight Dare.
Midnight Dare is a superbly bred greyhound with a pedigree based on that proven recipe. She is hugely line bred 3x3 to the virtual sisters Naughty Thoughts (Go Wild Teddy-Ready To Rain) and Midnight Drama (Go Wild Teddy-Ready To Rise). Ready To Rise is a daughter of Ready To Rain.
David's family tapped into the Ready To Rain bloodlines many, many generations ago, right back to the days of Merbentyl and her famous daughter Monkey Jill (2nd in the NSW St Leger) in the late 1970s.
Monkey Jill (Arctic Light-Merbentyl) was a litter sister to star staying bitch Shalom City a multiple track record breaker and National Distance finalist. At stud, Monkey Jill is best remembered as the dam of Street Wise (finalist Nat Derby) by Chief Dingaan.
To Kid Springdale, Monkey Jill produced Tight Margin who in turn was mated to Galway Pipe to produce First Contract who started nine times for a win at Ipswich over 431m and three wins up Wyong. First Contract was a 32kg bitch.
First Contract was mated to the Pringle sprint star Indian Dance (Eureka Man-Key Dancer) to produce Ready To Rain who in turn has established a dynasty of her own.
Ready To Rain raced 33 times for seven wins and 11 placings winning over 720m at Wentworth Park in 1997. She also won at Moss Vale and Dapto.
Ready To Rain was a litter sister to Plumb Bob who was second in the G1 Adelaide Cup and a finalist in the G1 Coca-Cola Cup at Albion Park.
Others have tapped into Ready To Rain's family, but David Pringle has stuck solid and reaped the rewards.
Among the stars from the line have been Wenty track record holder Shakey Jakey and his half brother, track record breaker Buck Fever.
David learned very early on that the Ready To Rain family could be reinforced within itself.
This is how Group 1 winner Bourbski Fever is bred.
And, David had no hesitation in linking Shakey Jakey with Midnight News to bring in the virtual sisters Naughty Thoughts and Midnight Drama.
The litter is far and away the best sired by Shakey Jakey. It includes triple NZ Group 1 winner Nature's Gent as well as Group stars Watch The Wasp, Midnight Elsa, Ridin' Shotgun and Midnight Treat.
So, when it came time to mate Midnight Capers, Buck Fever was a natural and the result is a potential superstar in Midnight Dare.
The litter of nine named offspring already boasts eight winners and they are just two years and one month.
Way back in 1975, Merbentyl produced two bitches of quality in her mating to Arctic Light. One was Monkey Jill (the Ready To Rain damline), and the other was Shalom City.
As mentioned above, Shalom City was a pretty special race bitch and at stud she became the dam of Narara City (by Security Alert) who would run distance track records at Dubbo and Muswellbrook.
Narara City was mated to Tangairn to produce a dog called Tally who was second in the Wentworth Park Gold Cup and fourth in the National Distance.
To Pretty Short, Narara City became the dam of Shandy Anne who is the second dam of Sam Sultana's great race bitch Eriskay a 600m Singleton track record breaker and Ladies Bracelet winner at Wenty.
The Sultana family put Eriskay to Token Prince and got their superstar race dog Mandagery Man the winner of 27 races and a finalist in 13 Group races. He won the WA Derby and Richmond Derby.
Mandagery Man was used sparingly at stud but his daughters have produced multiple Group stars Set To Storm and Shallay Pallay.
Here's a thought!
With Mandagery Man tracing directly to Merbentyl, and sires like Buck Fever, Shakey Jakey and Spring Gun coming from the same family, would it be wise to link the families?
Which brings us to a dog called Splinters (Spring Gun-Bev's Charm by Mandagery Man) a winner at Wenty in FFA class only a couple of weeks ago.
He has won 17 races and been placed 18 times for $46,000 in stakes. Six of the seven named offspring in the Spring Gun-Bev's Charm litter have won.
