Living down the rabbit-hole of greyhound pedigrees, Phil Milner (armed with only an abacus and a slide rule) takes a look at the stats behind the 30 greyhounds who have graced a Towcester Derby final.
One major goal on all breeders minds is to breed a dog who has the early speed, the strength, the stamina, and the desire to run the Derby course 6 weeks on the bounce. But what makes a finalist? Here’s some stats:
The average weight of a finalist at Towcester is 34.48 KG
The average age of a finalist at Towcester is 33.6 Months
The youngest finalist was Mr Chelm, followed by Ballymac Fairone
The oldest finalists were jointly, Hiya Butt, Hello Hammond, and Priceless Jet
Of the finalists, 15 have been English trained and 15 have been Irish trained
No bitches have reached a Derby final in 5 runnings at Towcester
21 black dogs have reached the final, 3 brindles, 2 white and black, 1 blue and white, 1 black and white, 1 blue and brindle, 1 white and brindle
Of the 30 finalist, 14 were whelped during the summer months. Jan-2, Feb-2, Mar-3, Apr-2, May-3, Jun-5, Jul-5, Aug-4, Sep-2, Oct-1, Nov-1, Dec-0
The average number of prep runs close to the first round was 2.7 runs.
No dog has reached the final without a run around Towcester before the start.
From the last 3 finals (18 dogs) only 5 dogs don’t have Brett Lee in their first five generations
The lightest finalist was Astute Missile (followed by Tyrur Shay)
The heaviest finalist was Thorn Falcon (followed by Cochise)
Graham Holland has trained 20% of the finalists at Towcester (6)
Patrick Janssens has trained 10% of the finalists at Towcester (3)
Cronin – 2, Hennessy – 2, Dowling – 2, Wallis -2, Cahill – 2
Rees, Green, Grey, Henry, Buckley, Hutton, Harrison, Lister, Fahy, Boon, and Keighley have all trained a finalist
The finalists have an average breeding coefficient of 15.52%
Of the finalists dams, 25 were open class*
4 of the finalists dams were unraced**
Coolavanny Pearl was dam to both Clona Duke and Newinn Session
* Mr Chelm’s dam ran only once finishing behind Unlock Unlock
**Mickys Barretts’ dam (The Other Tessa) won on the coursing field in the Knockgraffon Oaks Trial Stake
