The Breeders Series: Pat Dalton (Part 2)

Here follows the 2nd part of the Breeders Series interview with Pat Dalton.

Who would you say is the greatest brood bitch you ever owned. 

Well I bred Airport Express who is owned by my son Michael.  I would say it would be very hard to beat what she has achieved as a brood bitch. 

My best ever? Well it can only be Maythorn Pride.

I was hoping you were going to say that Pat. I am a big fan. The first greyhound I bought was from your 'Wise' damline through Bleak Weather back to Maythorn Pride.  The best bitch I ever owned is also from the Maythorn Pride damline.  Tell me about Maythorn Pride.

Well first of all she was a beautiful bitch. I had seen her win in Shelbourne Park, and I bought her after a race in Navan.  She was from a great line (Millies May).  We took her to America where she raced with much success in the top grade at Biscayne, Florida.  We bred her in the States before we brought her back to Ireland and bred her to Sand Man. 

It was from here that she became what I consider one of the best brood bitches of all time.  Check out her litter to Sand Man - there were 11 in that litter.  Some of the bitches in there became top brood bitches and dams of brood bitches - the likes of Slight Chill, Bleak Weather, Strange Legend (won the Oaks), Miss Hilary (won the Waterford Crystal Stakes and responsible for the Airport Express branch of the line), Kasco Lady (won the Thurles Champion Bitch Stake twice).

Her daughters went on to produce lines which I have had success with over the last 30 years. An incredible brood bitch. Maythorn Pride appears in many of the great lines around the world.

At one point, the greyhound publication 'Track Facts' listed Bleak Weather, Slight Chill and Kasco Lady as the top producing broodbitches at 3 different tracks in the US.

Pat, in all your years in the sport, where you have raced in Ireland, the USA, Australia and even Sweden, who do you consider to have been the greatest stud dog?

This is one of those questions that you could ask many people and get a different answer.  I think there is no correct answer and it can not be measured.  For example, some very good dogs, well performed and bred, simply do not get the same opportunities as other sires.  Some dogs get hundreds of bitches whereas as others get a mere handful.  If I had to pick 2 I would say that Top Honcho and Monalee Champion were as good as anything.

 
So that leads me on to ask who you consider to have been the best greyhound you ever bred?

Well again this is open to debate and a very very hard question to answer.  The 2 that spring to mind would be Mortar Light and Fortress. 

Fortress was by I'm Slippy  out of Exception who was a grand-daughter of Maythorn Pride.  He was a very fast greyhound winning the Juvenile at Wonderland.  He went on to become a very good stud dog, producing several big stakes winners.

Mortor Light won the Irish-American International at Biscayne in 1971.  He was also a brilliant dog, and was bred from an American damline.

A question that has been debated many times on the internet forums is just how much input does a brood bitch have in a litter - is it 50/50 with the sire?

No. I would say that it would have to be 80% down to the bitch.

What do you think of linebreeding and inbreeding and breeding theories in general?

What - like Rasmussen?  I'm sure there is something to it (Pat smiles), but if I am honest I would never knowingly follow any theory.  As I have already said, I would want the bitch to be from a line that is producing, and hopefully she could run a bit.  I would then select a sire depending on the qualities of the bitch, and I would also factor in where the pups would be running.  If you are breeding for the Irish scene, then you need a sire that is known to put early pace into their offspring. If breeding for the States, then toughness and stamina is needed.

By following Rasmussen for example, you are ignoring the more immediate issues that need addressing - like if a bitch was slow away you want to counter that by using a sire that will get them to the bend lively.  4x5 and 5x4.....look, there is no right or wrong way to breed greyhounds, and there is certainly no theory that you can follow that will guarantee you success. 

If breeding was straightforward and we simply had to follow textbooks, we would all be champion breeders!  You can breed a litter that contains a Derby winner, a fighter and the rest could be slow.  But they would have the same breeding.  Where does that leave your theories?

Don't get me wrong, I have in the past bred as close as 3x3, and this type of breeding can have great success.  But I generally do not look to breed following any pre-defined formula.  I breed for pace and hope they get the distance.

Would you copy other breeders?

Of course - if something has worked for someone else we would take note.  We stay learning until we die.

 
So would i be right in saying that you will soon be welcoming back home that great marathon bitch Flying Winner?

That's right.  I will be breeding her when she comes in season.  I am not sure who I will use on her yet but it will be a sire that puts early into his pups.

So do you breed for the future Pat? Were your lines pre-planned or have they just arrived at where they are today?  Do you breed litters to get good bitches to breed from in the future?

No. I like to keep things simple - so when I breed a litter I am looking to get good pups from that litter.  I don't bother looking too far forward - I mightn't be here next year!

 
If you bred a litter that was not up to the standard you were hoping for, would you breed the bitch again or retire her?

I would always give 2 chances to a bitch to produce.  Generally I choose very well bred bitches that you would expect to produce, so I always give them another opportunity with a different type of sire - quite often a cross will not work. Although saying that, a good brood bitch will produce decent pups to any sire, although some sires will work better.

What about repeat matings Pat - what do you think of them?

Well it is linked to the previous question I suppose.  If there is a gap of a few years between the litters it is nearly inevitable that the bitch will in many cases be past her peak, and therefore the 2nd litter is rarely as good as the initial mating.  And of course nobody ever breeds to the same sire again if the first litter was average. It is always a very good litter that is being copied, and the standard is very high.  We have repeated matings and have had success, and wouldn't hesitate to do so again.

Specifically, are there any factors that would lead you to pass on breeding from a bitch - bearing in mind she already meets the criteria you look for in her breeding and performance?  Size, conformation, temperament, age?

This is a good question.  I would certainly never pass on a bitch because she is too young.  In fact in most cases brood bitches produce their best litters when they are younger.  There is a noticeable decrease in the quality of pups produced by bitches when they are over 8 (although there are obvious exceptions) and there is little argument that litter sizes drop off rapidly after this age.

With regard to temperament, I wouldn't be too bothered if a bitch was very excitable - that can be a good thing in some ways. I wouldn't breed from a spooky bitch though, although I believe that 9 times out of 10 this is a result of poor rearing. If a greyhound is handled well from a very young age then why would it be shy?

And size?

Well I would not like to breed from a bitch that was too big (over 65lb).  Generally a bitch between 56lb and 60lb is ideal.  I have never had very small broods, but that doesn't mean that they won't breed on.  Many small bitches have thrown great dogs.

 
Tell me a bit about how you rear them Pat.

Well as you have seen, we rear them in large pens, but we don't simply leave them out there until they are racing age.  We would start work with them when they are young, say 6 months old. We keep them alert, active and interested in what's going on around the place. 

Believe it or not we actually start the pups leading not long after they have been weaned off their mother - although we do try to keep the mother in with the pups as long as she can stand them.  This method of rearing, I have found, means you rarely - if ever - have a nervous or shy pup.

Michael stressed this point further. We have someone who comes in especially just to get the pups leading.  We find it helps no end with the socialisation of pups, just walking a pup from the field to the kennel block and back at a young age will be of huge benefit. 

Also, when we sell pups, that's one less job for the new owner to worry about.  We would generally kennel up pups at about 12 months.

 
I have to mention your schooling track Pat. It's amazing and as good as most licensed tracks in Ireland.

Yes it is of great help to us. It has inside and outside hare-rails which helps us school for Ireland and America. 

I modelled it on Multnomah in Portland, Oregon, working off the plans for that track. It is a big gallop and we would school our dogs from scratch at home, and they will be well schooled before they race,  On occasion we may give a dog a look or two at Clonmel.

 
Do you think the days of the Irish greyhound are numbered?  Especially with all the Australian sires dominating the breeding scene.

Not really.  There are a few decent Irish sires around at present.  I bred Premier County, and he was a very fast, well bred dog. I donated him to the Tipperary Hurling Supporters Club as a puppy.  At stud he could have been used more I suppose. He sired a great dog in Premier Fantasy, who is doing pretty well now himself.  But What we really need is another Monalee Champion or Prairie Flash.  They were great Irish sires.

So is the chase instinct as strong today as it was in years past?

Of course it is. I don't believe that theory at all. As long as pups are started on at a young age and not left to get lazy.  Rearing dogs is not about feeding them and looking after them - it is much more than that.  From the moment a dog can run you should be 'training' them.

Casting your mind back over the years, if you had to narrow it down to just one moment, one event, what would be your proudest moment in greyhound racing.

I would have to say my proudest moment was when Gleaming There won the inaugural Irish-American International at Biscayne, Florida, in 1963. 

Pat showed me a copy of the 1964 Track Facts magazine which listed the 3 races that comprised the points based event. All three races were won by greyhounds trained by a young 27 year old called Mr. P. Dalton. And the overall winner was Gleaming There, who collected $25,000 for Pat which was big money back then.

I was very proud to win the event as I was a young man, and I had bought Gleaming There (Hi There x Glittering Gleam) from Terry Lynch after she made the Irish Derby Final at Shelbourne, and exported her to the States specifically for this event.

And your biggest disappointment?

John, I never look back and would not be too disappointed by anything in the game. When the race is over there is always the next one to look forward to.

Pat, many thanks for giving up your time to answer my questions, and for being so open. I appreciate some of my questions are a bit daft!

Not at all John, it has been a pleasure.  I hope that I have been of some help and I wish you lots of luck with your dogs.

Comments

[robert moyles]

another cracking read bruv
keep it up

[John Moyles]

Just re-read it myself. A great read :)