Grand Vue Ace
ANYONE who saw Flying Amy race will vouch for her being a legend.
She and her half sister, Tenthill Doll, were the first two voted into the Australian greyhound hall of fame.
Amy was a rocket. Her ability to ping the lids was amazing and anyone who saw her win those two Gold Coast Cups will attest to that.
Amy was on the grass at the end of the matting in front of the starting boxes before her seven rivals had even poked their heads out of the boxes.
Yep, she was that good.
Her son Just The Best lived right up to his name and became an influential sire.
Which brings me to one of New Zealand’s great current stayers in Grande Vue Ace.
She is a daughter of Dyna Dave-Replica Casino by Jinjarango.
So what, I hear you ask.
Well, Flying Amy is the fourth dam of Grande Vue Ace and what a route it has been to get from that great champion to the current star Kiwi stayer.
Amy produced a litter by Bobniak in 2000 that included Amy Grace, as well as the Group performers Precious Amy and Zippy Zena. Tony Lockett owned the unraced Amy Grace.
Amy Grace was mated to Token Prince and in 2007 produced Smash Kingdom who ended up in NZ with Robert Pringle.
Amy Grace is also dam of the sensational sprinter Prang, but also the fine stayer Drifting etc. Amy Grace was a VERY good producer.
Smash Kingdom could run. In NZ, she started 65 times for eight wins and 22 placings earning $17,000, but she was a Group 2 Far South Island Challenge finalist behind the G1 winning Tricky Shelley (Spiral Nikita-Paua To Burn).
Smash Kingdom was mated to Jinjarango (Bit Chili-Winsome Ashley) and this is the same direct family as legend stayer Miata.
Jinjarango was a pretty hot dog in NZ. He won the G2 Far South Challenge, but was twice a finalist in the G1 New Zealand Cup and also a finalist in the G1 Wellington Cup and 3rd in the G2 North Island Challenge.
His litter to Smash Kingdom produced Replica Casino who raced 90 times for nine wins and 27 placings for stakes of $25,000. Replica Casino’s litter brother Replica Rango raced 114 times for nine wins and 32 placings for $27,000.
Nothing to write home about for sure, but they were obviously sound and they brought some fabulous bloodlines to the future.
Replica Casino is in-bred to Bobniak … the famed Osti Lee family that is still so dominant today.
Robert Pringle put Replica Casino to Dyna Dave (Dyna Villa-Julie Bale) the intensely in-bred former star NZ race dog who has a 3x3 of the litter sisters Francesca Bale and Evonne Bale (Light Of Fire-Frosty Bale).
From that mating has come Grande Vue Ace in 2020.
She has been a real staying star.
She is twice a Group 1 winner in the NZ Stayers Cup and Wanganui Distance, as well as winning the G2 Wanganui Stayers.
She has been placed in four Group races and a finalist in two more.
Grande Vue Ace would be the apple of Flying Amy’s eye.
When Robert Pringle designed the mating of Dyna Villa and Replica Casino, it brought in two very in-bred parents, but also a 4x4 duplication and balance of Hallucinate in an important position in the pedigree.
I all the years I have been studying pedigrees, this position of duplication and balance has been very successful.
The immortal Zoom Top is 4x4 duplicated and balanced in this position to Chief Havoc. Interestingly, many of the best progeny sired by Black Top (sire of Zoom Top) were in-bred in this 4x4 position to Chief Havoc.
