m a n a b o u t d o g b l o g

Ballymac Maeve voted as best suitor for Bantiss Princess

Bantiss Princess is due in season and I asked you to vote on which sire would be most suitable.  You voted for Ballymac Maeve.  157 of you voted - thanks a bunch. I will inform you when I make a decision on what we do with Princess.

 

Just going back through other polls I hosted on the blog it is interesting to ponder If I re-asked the questions, would the results be the same?

YOU GOT THIS ONE WRONG!

Last year prior to the Irish Derby 164 of you voted on what trainer would win the Irish Derby.  A whopping 51.8% of you went for Pat Buckley whereas on 2.4% of you correctly opted or Shelbourne Aston's trainer Pat Curtin.

SAND MAN A BETTER IMPORT THAN TOP HONCHO

I asked what imported stud dog was the greatest to arrive on Ireland's shores and 44.8% chose Sand Man who narrowly beat Top Honcho.

HAIL SKIPPING CHICK

The most important damline in UK and Irish breeding was judged to be that of Skipping Chick - 59.5% of votes went the way of the white and fawn bitch.

NATIONAL PUPPY STAKE THE JUVENILE PACE SETTER

The National Puppy Stake was voted - 40% - as the most important juvenile event in Ireland with the Produce Stakes coming in 2nd with 20%.

WIN YOUR TRIAL TO BE ELIGIBLE TO RACE

When asked about qualifying times (currently a ridiculously easy 31.00 for the 525y) you gave a most surprising answer - 32.7% voted that all pups should have to win their grading trial and do a miminimum time standard.  Next most popular was that grading time be slashed into 30.50 and quite a few thought 30.20.

INSPECT THE STUD DOG

On the breeding side of things, 42.9% of bantissgreyhounds.blogs.com readers said they always inspected a sire before deciding whether he would be used on their brood bitch.

Poll for Princess

Bantiss Princess is due amiss soon and I am considering breeding her again - I was going to wait til the end of the year.  Ningbo Jack is a natural choice seeing as her current litter have started nicely, but there are a few others I could consider too.

I want early pace to play to her strengths so I won't be considering a lot of sires.

Please take a moment to vote in the poll on the right hand-side of the blog, it might help me decide. Then again I might ignore you all completely!!

Pat Buckley hot favourite to train this year's Derby winner?

The draw is being made today for the Irish Derby First Round and it will be interesting to see what sponsors Paddy Power create markets on.  They usually do a trainers market, and i think Paul Hennessy has been hot favourite nearly every year, and although he finally achieved the big one last year, the bookies might install Pat Buckley as their favourite this year with a tremendously strong team.

I ran a poll on the blog for the month of July and 164 of you voted.  Here's who you think will train the winner of the Irish Derby.

85 Pat Buckley
23 Other Irish based trainer (not listed)
14 Paul Hennessy
11 English based trainer
11 Owen McKenna
6 Seamus Graham
5 Ginger McGee
4 Pat Curtin
3 Graham Holland
2 Frances O'Donnell

 

 

Get voting - who will train this year's Irish Derby champion?

The poll on the right hand side of the screen has been going for over a week and after 112 votes Pat Buckley is a mile clear f the pack with 47% of the vote.

Have you voted?

Poll Closed: To inspect a sire or not?

I created a poll last month which has now closed. Thanks to all the bloggees that took the time to vote.

"For Breeders:When choosing a sire, prior to choosing, or at least prior to mating, do you go to view the sire of choice to check on his wellbeing, his conformation etc?"

• Always Inspect: 42.9%
• Never Inspect: 11.4%
• Inspect When Allowed: 22.9%
• Not bothered: 22.9%

It seems most of us like to check on the sire's wellbeing before using him on our bitch.

Click here to see past results of polls held on this blog.

The National Puppy Stake is the most important puppy competition

Thanks to all of you who have voted on this site that the National Puppy Stake is the most important when looking at what it will produce. Recent winners of this big stake were Knockeevan Major, Premier Fantasy and Dustin Fox who all went on to big things.

The leading votes were as follows:

National Puppy Stake 40%

Produce Stakes 20%

Irish Puppy Derby 14.3%

Red Mills Unraced 11.4%

Cronin Unraced Classic 5.7%

What is the most important puppy stake?

Please take a moment to submit a vote on the poll on the right hand side.

I think this year's Produce Stakes and Puppy Derby have not had the strength in depth of previous years. Don't get me wrong - i'd LOVE to have one good enough to compete in these stakes, but I feel the overall entry for some of the puppy stakes this year was thinner than previous years. Nothing against the likes of Kriptonite, Royal Treason, Ballymac Penske and Green Heat - all very, very promising and fast greyhounds, destined for the heights. But many of the entries were simply making up numbers.

I think that the prime reason is there are so many stakes open to owners these days in Ireland with massive pots. Also, the real top dogs seem to head directly to Shelbourne Park, skipping the pup races.

I will close the poll in 11 days time.

Grading in Times: Time For Change? You said YES!

I started a poll last week and it closed this morning. The question I asked was whether we needed to drastically (or otherwise) change the requirements for dogs grading in at Irish tracks. I felt the 31.00 marker was useless - and judging by the poll results so do you.

32.7% of you thought that dogs needed to win a trial before being allowed to race.

24.5% of you thought that the grading mark should be cut to 30.50secs.

14.3% of you thought it should be cut further, down to 30.00secs.

12.2% thought there should be no change at all to the current grading requirements, and this same figure thought the time should be 30.20secs.

Just over 4% of voters felt the grading time should be 'shaved' to 30.80secs.

Thanks to all of you who voted.

Grading in times - time for change?

I know this has been well debated over the years. A couple of years back the grading in time was reduced from 31.20 to 31.00. What was the point of that?!?!

I have read Tom Bambury on GData Forum giving out that dogs that cant qualify at the first time of asking will be poor, and he has a point. It is so rare to see a race being won outside of 30.00secs perhaps that marker needs to be reached before dogs are allowed race?

My own opinion is this - the marker has to come down a hell of a long way for the simple reason that our betting markets are stagnant; uncompetitive. Bookies wont price up pups races at many tracks, and although we give out about it, who can actually blame them?

Then you get races, where 5 dogs are starting out on a level playing field, hoping to get near 2950 after qualifying in 30.50. But one dog, that was obviously held in his trial, scraping home in 3rd place in 30.99, wins his novice in 28.60 and is talked about as a wonder dog. The fact he has improved by 35 lengths in possibly two weeks is overlooked, and some mug buys the dog.

Result: Betting Market dead; Pup races become processions; sales are non existant - unless someone gets tucked up and another enthusiast leaves the sport.

At present, I applaud people who can get 2 seconds out of a dog on his novice race, I try my best as well. But for the sake of the sport we need to be unselfish, and push for this meaningless Qualifying Trial to be scrapped, and a more accountable and fair system brought in.

And please don't tell me to 'go to the UK to race' - that would be unhelpful. If anyone thinks the sport here is rosy and change is not needed, I'd love to read your thoughts. However I honestly think this is a major problem affecting all areas of the greyhound industry/sport.

I have set up a poll (on the right hand side) and it will be really interesting to see what you think.

Skipping Chick: Most Important Bitch in Irish and British Breeding

The results of the poll are in. Who did you vote the most important bitch in Irish and British Breeding?

1.   Skipping Chick 59.5% of voters included her in their 3 votes

2.   Negros Fire 23.8%

-    Westmead Satin 23.8%

4.   Millies May 21.4%

5.   Maythorn Pride 19%

Who is the greatest?

Who is the most influential bitch in Irish and British bloodlines? Is it Skipping Chick (pictured)? Or Millies May? Or Glenroe Bess?  Or another super brood?

Use your vote now on my poll on the right hand side of the screen - the poll will continue until Saturday week, so get in now before you forget.

Recent poll results from Bantiss Blog showed that you lot thought GRAHAM TEMPLE was the best person to front RTE's greyhound coverage, and GO WILD TEDDY should be 'given the mount' when my broodbitch Bantiss Jymmi comes in season.

WHO TO PRESENT RTE GREYHOUND COVERAGE: POLL RESULTS

GRAHAM TEMPLE  - THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE

WHO IS THE BEST PERSON TO PRESENT RTE'S COVERAGE OF GREYHOUND RACING?

GRAHAM TEMPLE 36.4%

TRACEY PIGGOT 15.2%

MICHEAL O'MUIRCHEATAIGH  12.1%

MICHAEL FORTUNE 12.1%

MICHAEL LESTER 6.1%

RAY FROM FAIR CITY 6.1%

BETTY BOO, EAMONN DUNPHY AND GER CANNING - ALL ON  3%

OTHERS 3%

BANTISS JYMMI: POLL RESULTS

I recently put up a poll on this blog, asking you for your opinions on who I should mate Bantiss Jymmi to when she comes in season.  I have closed the poll today after 40 votes and the results are as follows:

• Go Wild Teddy 25% (10 votes)
• Top Honcho 20% (8 votes)
• Tucks Mein  12.5% (5 votes)
• Droopys Vieri 10% (4 votes)
• Brett Lee & Droopys Maldini 7.5% each (3 votes each)
• Tyrur Ted, top Savings and Droopys Scolari 5% each (2 votes each)
• Honcho Classic 2.5% (1 vote)

I am mildly surprised Teddy tops the list, and that Tucks Mein is so well thought of. I am astonished that Honcho Classic is rock bottom, considering he is one of the most popular sires at stud, and seeing the cross has already produced Express Wish, Comet, Route etc....

I am undecided still, but it's nice to know what you are thinking.