Token Prince - A recipe for success

Broodbitch owners are ever looking for an advantage, a successful nick or right cross, to utilise when planning the mating of their valuable females. Some of the best could be staring us right in the face and only needs a bit of research to witness a pattern that could be a great help for the future matings we plan.

Let's take the great Token Prince (Malawi's Prince-True Temptation) for instance. Everyone reading this will know of his exploits. The former smart sprinter, he went to stud in 1998 with Sam Cauchi in NSW and became an instant hit. His pedigree is extremely interesting.

It doesn't take a genius to see that Token Prince (and his litter brother Awesome McLaren who stood at stud with The A Team in Qld) carry the great Waverly Supreme* 3x3 top and bottom of the pedigree. It is an extremely interesting position and one that virtually clinches the outcome of Token Prince (and Awesome McLaren's) stud career.

For Token Prince to be a success at stud, he virtually demanded not more Waverly Supreme*, but an influx of blood from the middle of his pedigree. This means bitches that carry Bowetzel (and his sire Second Stage), but more importantly Brother Fox (or his half brother Acacia Park) in the pedigrees of the bitches he mated. Fortunately for Token Prince, and Awesome McLaren, there was no shortage of bitches around that carried Brother Fox (or Acacia Park) in their pedigree. Both had to succeed.

While there is always the proviso that the bitch you are mating to any sire must have a degree of natural ability herself, it was important to Token Prince that these bitches carried Brother Fox. A quick check of his top performers shows every one (with the exception of Mandagery Man) has a dam with either Brother Fox or Acacia Park in their pedigree.

Pororoca, Best Quoted, Pure Octane, Classy Customer. Malfoy, Black Enforcer, Pure Burst, Shanlyn Prince, Gunnadoo Magic etc etc etc all did. Mandagery Man has no Brother Fox in his damline, but his dam Eriskay does carry a double to Bowetzel's sire Second Stage.

If that is the case for Token Prince, then it stands to reason that his litter brother Awesome McLaren should be the same, and this is the case. All his best progeny carry Brother Fox/Acacia Park in the pedigree of their dam. Awesome McLaren benefitted from having Credibility bitches in abundant supply in Queensland where he stood.

His best, all bred with Brother Fox in their damlines, included Sheza Good Sort, Awesome Design, Awesome Attack, Pocket Lightning, Serial Pest, Kelly's Spirit, Skyline Osti, etc. With the pedigree of Token Prince, and the position of Waverly Supreme where he is in the pedigree, I went looking for other sires bred the same way and came across the English Derby winner and champion Irish sire I'm Slippy. He carries Newdown Heather top and bottom 3x4.

His best progeny shows a huge dominance for bitches that carried Own Pride and Monalee Champion two of the stud dogs that appear in dominant positions within the middle of the I'm Slippy pedigree. If this as the case for a stud dog, why then wouldn't it be the case for a broodbitch. I would think that if a potential broodbitch is bred in this pattern, she might then have to pick up on the blood of her own damsire in the pedigree of the sires she is mated to. Here is the pedigree of the 1941 helped broodbitch Thelma's Mate:

Obviously, if the Token Prince/Awesome McLaren/I'm Slippy examples are to be proved correct, then for Thelma's Mate to be a success at stud, she should ideally be mated to a stud dog that carries her damsire Sterling (or his sire Dall Eireann) in their pedigree. Which brings us to Thelma's Mate's Hall of Fame son Chief Havoc. Here is his pedigree:

Which brings us to yet another broodbitch, the Steve Kavanagh bred Rumble Spirit. She is by Malawi's Prince-Follow Through. Her first criteria for success is that she could run, and her damline is strong. But she also carries Waverly Supreme* 3x3 top and bottom of her pedigree and Brother Fox as her damsire.

At stud Rumble Spirit has produced some outstanding gallopers including Collision (by Awesome Assassin), Ace Hi Rumble and Collide (by Brett Lee) and Wave To Emma (to Stately Bird). Collision's sire Awesome Assassin carries Acacia Park (half brother to Brother Fox) as his damsire. Ace Hi Rumble and Collide's sire Brett Lee, of course, is a grandson of Brother Fox. Wave To Emma's sire Stately Bird carries Brother Fox as his damsire. The bitch also produced a litter to Spiral Nikita... more a case of a great damline producing no matter what she goes to.

Among Rumble Spirit's progeny is the bitch Spiritual Rumble (a member of the Brett Lee litter). Steve Kavanagh really double-dipped when he put Rumble Spirit to Brett Lee. Rumble Spirit, as we have pointed out, carries Waverly Supreme* 3x3 top and bottom of the pedigree. When Steve put her to Brett Lee he got a 3x3 of his former legend galloper Brother Fox (top and bottom again). Spiritual Rumble's pedigree is:

So, from what we have seen, Spiritual Rumble DEMANDS she be mated to a sire with Malawi's Prince or Malawi (or even his brother Buka Sunset) in his pedigree. Steve put Spiritual Rumble to Irish dog Spiral Nikita most likely in a bid for future broodbitches. The litter can run and includes Midnight Rumble and Mystic Rumble. But now he has put her to Pure Octane. And once again, he has developed a pedigree for us to study. It is:

The depth of this pedigree is amazing considering Paris Match (dam of Bobniak) and Gun Law Osti (sire of Brett Lee) are virtual sister and brother being by Brother Fox from the half sisters Osti's Shadow and Miss Dusty Lee. This link has already resulted in Hallucinate, Where's Pedro, Meticulous, Prang and Elma Fud. It will be interesting to see just what comes from the Pure Octane mating to Spiritual Rumble.

Mantra Lad, the National Distance champion, Sandown Shootout winner and 29.70 winner around Wentworth Park, is bred on much the same cross, but not quite. It is:

If you think Token Prince, I'm Slippy, Thelma's Mate and Rumble Spirit are just a few obvious examples on a theory well worth taking notice of, then think again.

Champion Worth Doing (Brother Fox-Versatile Miss) was in-bred 3x3 to Temlee top and bottom and had Arctic Tiger (damsire of Brother Fox) and Waverly Supreme* as his own damsire thus demanding a return of this dog in the pedigree of the bitches he mated. His pedigree is:

Check out his best progeny and you will see his stars like Worthy Reward, Worth Backing, Horatio, Tickety Boo etc etc all carry either Waverly Supreme* or Arctic Tiger within the pedigree of their dams.

Another interesting dog bred on a similar pattern is champion Irish dog Late Late Show. He was almost unbeatable on the track but disappointed at stud. He is 4x4 to Sand Man. His pedigree is:

Almost all of the best progeny of Late Late Show carry Cry Dalcash, or his sire Greenpark Fox, or I'm Slippy in their damlines. It is interesting to note that of the 816 progeny of Cry Dalcash on Greyhound-Data only 31 even made it to run in a feature race.

Was Late Late Show's relative moderate stud career because there was not enough quality Cry Dalcash progeny around to mate with him. Bitches he urgently needed to become a success.

Something to think about?