By Gary Guccione Wed, Aug 20, 2014
For the Atascocita racing team out of Texas, the last half of June proved to be a special time.
On June 15, Atascocita owner George Ulmer won the Diane Whitely Sprint Championship at Gulf Greyhound Park with Atascocita Kosta (sweeping all his elimination races and then the final, for the Libby Kennel). Kosta had a 15-3-2-1 record in 25 Gulf starts this year (as of June 21), and boasted a six-race win streak (which ended May 15) at the Texas track.
Twelve days after Kosta’s stake win, another Atascocita pooch— Atascocita Gray—captured one of the premier stake events of the year in the $60,000 Southland Derby.
The two new Atascocita stake champs are by two entirely different sires and sire lineages—Kosta being sired by Kiowa Sweet Trey, while Gray is by Lonesome Cry. But a strong bloodline connection is still evident through the pair, in that their mothers happen to be sisters.
Atascocita Gray is a fawn April 2011 son of Lonesome Cry- Atascocita Sofia, while Atascocita Kosta is a June 2012 red son by Kiowa Sweet Trey-Atascocita Edith.
Sofia and Edith are sisters (but not littermates) by Atascocita Leroy- Atascocita Flame.
Leroy was one of the best ever of the many outstanding “Atascocita” greyhounds over the years. Flame was by Grey’s Flamebeau out of the Molotov bitch, Rewind Sammy, who goes back to Bob Riggin brood stock. There are three Perceive entries behind the sisters, Sofia and Edith, and five entries of Perceive’s father, Downing.
The Lonesome Cry cross with Atascocita Sofia (producing Atascocita Gray) adds even more Downing—in this case, through Lonesome Cry’s sire line, tracing back to Understood. The Kiowa Sweet Trey cross with Atascocita Edith (producing Atascocita Kosta) also brings a sixth entry of Downing into the picture—in this case through HB’s Commander’s dam, Princess Donna. Strongest supplement to the Downing linebreeding behind both recent stake winners is the Jones line (especially through Kelly and Onie).
A few weeks prior to Atascocita Gray’s victory in the Southland Sprint Derby, Charter Kennel’s Gigawatt was taking home the track’s top route stake, the Razorback Classic, by literally outrunning the field (breaking last, finishing first). The win upped his record to 6-6-2-3 in 24 starts—after having gone 10-14-2-5 in 39 starts at Southland last year. Gigawatt also finished second in the Southland Festival Marathon in October 2013.
Gigawatt is a November 2011 black son of Djays Octane-CTW Hair Raising, owned and bred by John Lawlor of Manchester, Ct.
Gigawatt’s distance-racing abilities should come as no surprise, as Djays Octane (just like his father before him, Flying Penske) has a knack for producer routers and strong finishers. Same can be said of the two males in the family tree before them—Oshkosh Racey and Unruly The oldest three in this strong male line are all in the Hall Of Fame, in large part because of their sire careers.
CTW Hair Raising, Gigawatt’s dam, is by Dodgem By Design- CTW Luscious. Interestingly, Octane’s dam line, which goes back to Smokin Liz (Kunta Kinte-Beau Liz), shows up twice behind Hair Raising. Dodgem’s grandsire, He’s My Man, was also by Beau Liz, and Thunder Cheeks (in anchor dam line) was also by He’s My Man.
Joining the Beau Liz linebreeding is HB’s Commander, through two of his most prolific sons—Oswald Cobblepot (behind Octane) and Molotov (behind CTW Hair Raising). Farther back are eight entries of Friend Westy-Miss Gorgeous.
Derby Lane staged its historic St. Pete Derby in late June, and the trophy went to Lashmet Kennel’s Jacks Lil Bigman, a black and white August 2012 son of Pat C Clement- Jack’s Firstlady.
Talk about a meteoric rise—Jacks Lil Bigman, owned and bred by Michael J. Cassidy of Denver, won his first Maiden race at Derby Lane on Valentine’s Day. In just his seventh start, he was capturing his very first Grade A outing, and on May 24, he competed in his first 3/8 race. In between those milestones he was running third in the Gold Trophy Juvenile.
Here’s that Flying Penske stock again—and as it so often happens (see Gigawatt, above), it’s shining especially bright over the longer stake events.
Jack’s Firstlady, Lil Bigman’s dam, is by Lonesome Cry (his second appearance in this column’s pedigrees, having also sired Atascocita Gray). Just as Lonesome Cry mixed well with the Fortress*/Representation line behind Gray (see the Greys Flamebeau presence there), he also works well behind Lil Bigman’s pedigree, blending with TNT Star Wars (who was by Fortress*-Greys Stardust, the latter a Representation daughter, as was Greys Julianna).
HB’s Commander is the most noticeable linebreeding behind Bigman, thanks to his cross with his own sister to get Cee Jay—the sire of Pat C Clementine. On the dam side, Dutch Bahama shows up twice, through daughters CJ Ima Bahama and Hall Of Famer Representation (as the dam of Greys Stardust).
For the third time this issue, let’s applaud a Flying Penske son (in this case, it’s Kiowa Mon Manny) for siring a distance stake race winner. In this last case, it’s with Splish Splash, taking home the Bluffs Run Derby on May 24. Splish Splash, bred and raced by Monte Jacobs, is a September 2011 brindle daughter of Kiowa Mon Manny-Patch On Monday, and is owned by Jacobs and Clayton Black.
Several names we’ve talked about in this column already crop up once again behind Splish Splash—but none more prevalent than Penske, who keeps showing why his induction into the Hall Of Fame last year was certainly justified. As the paternal line behind three of the five spotlighted greyhounds this issue, Flying Penske has performed that trick with three different sons (Octane, Clement and now Mon Manny). Mon Manny is the strongest linebred of the trio, with more Jones blood in Mon Manny’s dam line— plus the fact that She’s A Natural (his anchor dam line) is also the tail lineage behind Penske himself.
Patch On Monday, Splish Splash’s dam, was bred by Wayne Strong, who also owned her sire, Big Monday. It’s here that TNT Star Wars shows up again (as Big Monday’s dad). As in the cases behind Gigawatt and Atascocita Gray, a Molotov daughter crops up via the dam behind Splish Splash. Cee Bar Patsy (in the anchor dam line) is strongly linebred to the Jones line (two K’s Flaks and an Unruly in her first three generations—noting that Kiowa Mon Manny is also loaded with Jones blood, mostly Unruly and Flak, including a Trouper Zeke entry). Cee Bar Patsy also goes back to Bob Riggin’s bloodline stock on the very bottom (as did Atascocita Gray), but from an entirely different family. Skiddy Flash, in that dam line, was also the maternal granddam of Iruska All Star.
Unsurprisingly, two branches of the Jones family head the linebreeding behind Splish Splash—K’s Flak (the Onie Jones branch) and Unruly (the Kelly Jones branch). Mix that with Flying Penske (himself a directly male-line descendant of Kelly, while his dam was from the Flak line), and you come up with seven Flak entries and four Unrulys behind Splish Splash. Not to mention a large dose of endurance.
