Sandown Winner O'sullivan Sets Tongues Wagging

WHEN those champions of Group 1 stature Poke The Bear and his litter brother Out Of Range were sweeping all before them in recent times, their pedigree stood out like a beacon.

The sons of Fernando Bale-Nicki Fields boasted a VERY special pedigree. Not only were they line bred 4×5 to the full relations Awesome Assassin and Goddess Of Fire, they also carried a 3×3 cross of the virtual brother and sister Primo Uno and Barbie's Shiraz both of them by Black Shiraz and from the Portrait family.

As we all know, or should if we are serious about designing successful pedigrees, reinforcing both of these famous damlines can often be a recipe for success.

So it wasn't surprising when the pedigree of last Thursday night's fast 29.54 Sandown winner Osullivan (Sulzanti-Rustic Reeta) stood out like a beacon as well.

It is a litter just starting to race. Osullivan will not be two until November.

Buried away in the pedigree of Osullivan is a 5×3 cross of the litter sisters Anniston and Flickering Lady (Fortified Speed-Goddess Of Fire). Anniston is the second dam of Knocka Norris and Elite Oriental. Flickering Lady was the dam of Group 1 stars Arsonist and Jean Jeannie.

Jean Jeannie became the dam of Group 1 star Infinite Wish.

Rustic Reeta (Pure Octane-Wolfie) has far out-bred her own racetrack form and that of her immediate damline to produce Group class Bear's Gold, Jacqui Blax and Signal Peak in her litter to Cape Hawke.

That litter produced hugely in-bred offspring who lived up to such a pedigree.

To Sulzanti, again introducing intense line breeding, the results appear good again even though it is way too early to judge them.
Osullivan's 29.54 victory at Sandown is a pretty good base from which to start.

Of the eight named pups in this litter, seven have won. Osullivan has won four of eight starts. They are babies.

Sulzanti (Magic Sprite-Scissor Queen) is a young stud dog with a fabulous pedigree for matings just like that which has produced Osullivan. He has Knocka Norris as his damsire.

The dog never really got to prove just what was expected of him breaking his hock at his 13th race start. His best produce to date is Rockhampton star Are Jay Lochie the winner of 20 races and $54,000 including a number of city wins at Albion Park.

IF Osullivan's pedigree is based on proven success, then so too is that of Velocity Bettina (Zambora Brockie-Velocity Shirl) who ran a slick 29.91 winning a Novice impressively for breeder-owner Steve Williams and trainer Kevin Ellis.

WOW! Hasn't Zambora Brockie started his stud career off with a bang!

The first litter to race by the son of Nitro Burst-Flying Liddy was bred by the dog's trainer Anthony Azzopardi and includes Seal The Deal (11 wins, $40,000).

It has been followed quickly by the Qld-bred litter that includes Stinger Noir (9 wins, $35,000), No Easy Beat (5 wins, $21,000), Sequana (2 wins, $20,000) and unbeaten Made In America (3 wins).

Last Thursday night at Albion Park, three of Zambora Brockie's progeny won and each of them broke 30-seconds.

Steve Williams puts in long hours studying pedigrees. He's come up with great success … better than most.

The pedigree he put together when he mated Velocity Shirl (Collision-Velocity Cloud) to Zambora Brockie was superb.

It brought in a 3×3 duplication and balance of legend Bombastic Shiraz at the top and bottom her the pedigree. Many great champions like Token Prince, Worth Doing and Brett Lee's own sire Gun Law Osti are bred on a similar theme but through different duplicated ancestors.

When Zambora Brockie retired to stud, it wasn't hard to spot along his damline a dog called Trendy Leigh (sire of Brockie's second dam). Trendy Leigh, the litter brother to legend Brett Lee, was always going to play a huge part in the success or otherwise of Zambora Brockie at stud.

Mating bitches with Brett Lee strongly positioned in their pedigree to Zambora Brockie was a natural.

Have a look at the pedigree of Seal The Deal, Stinger Noir and his littermates, and now Velocity Bettina and what stands out like dog's b…s is the up-close cross of Brett Lee in all their dams.

In the litters that produced Stinger Noir and Velocity Bettina, both Trendy Leigh and Brett Lee come via daughters and thus are able to hugely impact with each other.

Of course, there are other aspects to the pedigrees of Stinger Noir and Velocity Bettina that impact as well.

When Brockie retired, it also wasn't hard to notice that his damsire the US great Flying Stanley was very prominent. The damsire of any stud dog will always have a huge say in his potential success.

Flying Stanley, despite being the sire of Steve Williams' Aussie champ Glen Gallon, was pretty much an abject failure at stud. He eventually got kicked out of the US and ended up in Ireland where he generally slipped off into ignominy.

So, when Zambora Brockie was retired to stud, the best way to mate him to get successful racing progeny was always going to be by hugely in-breeding.

There was no better way of doing this than reinforcing Trendy Leigh and his brother Brett Lee … and if possible, adding a few extra goodies as well.

The pedigrees of Stinger Noir and Velocity Bettina and their littermates certainly did this. And their connections are reaping the rewards.

In Velocity Bettina's pedigree, a double of Malawi's Prince 5×4 was tossed into the mix as well. In fact, Zambora Brockie and Velocity Shirl are bred on an almost identical cross.

* Photo: Courtesy of Jason McKeonn Photography