Can King Sheeran expand his empire with “Goldie"?
Goldies Mabbutt, formerly trained by Patrick Janssens in her early days, and latterly by Chris Fereday, has had a litter of eight pups to King Sheeran, who is making his name at present as an up and coming sire
Can King Sheeran expand his empire with “Goldie"?
Goldies Mabbutt, formerly trained by Patrick Janssens in her early days, and latterly by Chris Fereday, has had a litter of eight pups to King Sheeran, who is making his name at present as an up and coming sire
King Sheeran, who enjoyed a successful career on the track for Liz and Rab McNair, winning the Produce Stakes at Swindon, the BGBF British Bred Derby at Sheffield and the Coral Olympic Final at Hove, as well as reaching the Greyhound Derby Final, all in 2019, is now starting to make his mark as a stud dog.
In recent weeks, we have seen performances from Ballybough Nutz, who was progressing nicely during the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby before injury struck, and Droopys Extragud, who lines up in the Three Steps To Victory Final at Sheffield on Sunday who are just two of his useful offspring, but the biggest headline maker that he has produced so far is the unbeaten Magical Luka.
Magcial Luka has been nothing short of sensational for Owner, Breeder and Trainer Pat Guilfoyle, winning all seven of his starts so far, with the October 23 whelp out of Magical Mary breaking the 21.00 sec barrier at Dundalk twice before going on to break the track record at Tralee in his last three starts, and with litter brothers Coloursaregreen and Magical Major also looking to be more than useful, then it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more and more breeders turning their attentions King Sheeran’s way.
One person who will be hoping that King Sheeran will be able to produce another potential superstar in another young litter of pups is Jo Nock, who is part of the syndicate who owned Goldies Mabbutt
Goldies Mabbutt, who was sister to former Open Race stayer Bombardier, made her debut back on April 6th 2001 for Patrick Janssens, who was attached at Towcester at the time, and made a winning debut in a D3 contest winning by four lengths. Quickly stepped up in distance, she made all the running in an A4 contest before stepping up into Open Class company
She even had a crack at the StarSports/TRC Greyhound Derby that year but was eliminated at the first round stage by none other than Thorn Falcon, who went on to land the spoils in the final.
Shortly after, she changed hands and joined Monmore trainer Chris Fereday. Nock, James Collins and Fereday purchased her, and having finished runner up on her first outing for Fereday in an Open Race at Monmore, Goldies Mabbutt went on to record Open Race victories at Perry Barr, Nottingham, Monmore, Swindon and Towcester.
Those victories included a second round victory of the ARC Oaks at Perry Barr, a heat of the ARC Eclipse at Nottingham, heats and semi final of the Madri Excepional Ladies Stakes at Towcester, finishing behind Makeit For Waz on Derby final night back in 2022.
In all, Goldies Mabbutt, who turns six next week, had 68 races, winning 15, Her last race was a winning one on January 3rd 2024 when winning an A3 contest at Monmore, and upon retirement, was sent to Ireland for breeding, as Nock explains
“She was sent to Ireland and was bred with King Sheeran and then came straight back to us. Chris and I whelped them at the kennels at Hayhead Farm in Walsall on October 18th. She had 10 pups but unfortunately, we lost two after a few hours but the other 8 thrived with our love and care”
“Meg” was a fantastic first time mum to all 8 pups. She had 2 black boys, 2 brindle boys and 1 fawn boy, and also had 1 brindle bitch and 2 black bitches. 3 of the pups are in Ireland being reared and Chris and I are rearing the other 5 at the kennels".
“The 3 in Ireland will be coming home when they are ready to start racing so they will all be back together to start their next chapter of their careers. We are keeping all 8 pups and will be racing at Monmore with Chris Fereday”
“Meg” visits the pups every day when she is out in the paddocks and shows off by running up and down, showing the pups how its done. The pups are loving life, they have loads of cuddly toys and 2 paddling pools as the weather is so hot at the moment”
