The foundation broods of the big greyhound racing breeders
Floyd Amphlett takes a look over the pedigree of recent JR Racing Juvenile Classic winner Romeo Alliance and the importance of a strong brood line.
Success built upon a foundation brood
There is a tendency to connect breeders with particular dam lines and in many cases that proves valid writes Floyd Amphlett.
If I think of ‘the Droopys’, my thoughts go back to one of their foundation broods, the appropriately named Droopys First.
Though around the same time, the Dunphy brothers also had Droopys Fergie and Droopys Fiona who were both fabulously successful in their own rights. None were directly related.
If we are talking ‘Ballymacs’ my thoughts are drawn back to a bitch in the early 1980s called Minus, and in the early days, her producing daughters were mainly ‘Blondes’. Minus remains a major figure in the Dowling’s dam lines though Liam’s English Derby winner De Lahdedah is from much more recent bloodline arrivals.
Nick Savva’s reputation was primarily built on two broods, Cricket Dance and Hacksaw who combined brilliantly to produce a string of champs. But when those lines faded, the Westmead legacy was transferred over to Mega Delight.
Melton Mowbray based Dave Firmager is a keen student of bloodlines and has gone fishing in a variety of gene pools over the past three decades.
Things really kicked off for Dave with Fast March, bred by Pat Dalton and a gr-gr-gr-gr granddaughter of possibly the most important brood bitch of the last half century, Maythorn Pride.
Dave’s 2025 British Breeders Stakes winner Romeo Control is from that Fast March dam line, as was the first ‘Romeo Control’ bred 13 years earlier. (Does that make Dave a Control freak? Asking for a friend!).
Romeo Empire, who finished third in the British Breeders, was also a second ‘Romeo Empire’, born 17 years apart, and both were descended from Fast March.
The kennel’s brilliant Romeo Command is actually from Liam Dowling’s ‘Ballymac’ dynasty .
All of which brings us to the recent Juvenile Classic first and third litter brothers, Romeo Alliance and Romeo Ability.
They are also descended from Fast March though it is through their sire, Romeo Magico who has done fabulously well (excuse the pun) from his early litters.
The dam line though, was Dave’s venture into the Lennon family’s ‘Lemon’ dam lines. For, literally decades, it was impossible to scour a Kilkenny card without spotting some very decent Lemons and they will no doubt be delighted that the prefix is still influencing racing.
