Breeding Ground - How do the Derby finalists size up to previous years?

Breeding ground

If a punter from the first Greyhound Derby were to cast an eye over Saturday’s six finalists, they would probably be surprised by what they saw.

There would be the colours for a start. Brindles and fawns completely dominated the event. There was only one black winner in the first 20 finals, yet there will be five blacks and a blue lining up in this year’s decider.

The last 10 years have been dominated by black winners with the exceptions including Romeo Magico (black/white) and Deerjet Sydney (white/brindle).

The size and shape of the early Derby winners was also very different. There are very few ‘height at shoulder’ measurements available from the early days, though clearly the dogs were much smaller and stockier.

While racing weights were not compulsory in the early days of the sport (they were introduced first by Wimbledon’s Con Stevens), they were available from the 1950s onwards.

So compare the weights from the runners in one of the greatest ever Derby Finals. The 1958 decider was won by Pigalle Wonder who at 75½ pounds (34.2kg), wouldn’t look at out of place among Saturday’s finalists (based on semi final weights): 32.2kg, 33.8kg, 36kg, 36kg, 35.2kg, 35.1kg.

However, the rest of the ’58 final, which included the ’59 Derby winner Mile Bush Pride (29.5kg), weighed in at 33kg, 30.5kg, 30.5kg, 32.7kg.

In short, dogs the size of Pigalle Wonder were rare. For example, who remembers that Whisper Wishes contested his Derby semi at 30.1kg, Hit The Lid (30.9kg), I’m Slippy (31.1kg), and Lauries Panther (31.5kg). While Lacca Champion was just over 30 kilos.

There were of course always bigger winners, Indian Joe weighed in at 35.2kg, Slippy Blue at 35.7kg, but overall, modern hounds are generally taller and heavier than their predecessors.

Last but not least, the early Derby fields were dominated firstly by British coursing breeding, and then by British and Irish track bloodlines.

Indeed, all six finalists are Irish bred though even within three generations, we can spot Aussie sires Head Bound, Brett Lee, Royal Impact, Top Honcho, Ace Hi Rumble and Hallucinate, plus American sire Kinloch Brae.

Of course, take those Aussie lines back several generations, through the greatest Aussie track sire of all time, Temlee, and who do we find on the top line of his pedigree?

A certain 34.2 brindle who won the 1958 English Derby.