Having captured the hearts of an entire greyhound racing community, along with attracting the attentions of the wider public in a wonderful 2018 Boylesports Irish Derby campaign which brought a stunning victory in the Derby Consolation, Colin Barry & Noel Coote's Newhall Missile (Romeo Recruit/Rathmeehan Holly) is set to be a daddy, having mated his first bitch on Wednesday of this week.
Set to resume his racing career in the very near future, he returned to Shelbourne Park when sparkling in an 18.67 trial over 350 yards in early February but took time out this week for a natural mating with Sues Music at the kennels of George Gallery.
Owned by Johnny & Grainne Burke, Sues Music had her racing career cut short with just a sole start but she was a member of a talented Open class litter which included Tynwald Galaxy (data rating 111), Log Cabin (127) and Mick The Master (109).
By Tyrur Big Mike, her dam Keplar Miss also threw Open class runners in her two other litters to Droopys Scolari & Droopys Maldini.
Fresh for her breeding career, she is certainly an exciting first mating for Newhall Missile, whose own prolific dam-line traces back to the 1984 Oaks winner Burnpark Sally and through Irish St Leger 3rd Burnpark Lisa, from the family kennels of trainer John Browne.
Surely the most heart-warming story of recent times in greyhound racing, the Newhall Missile script is clearly not yet completed and there is in fact a further instalment yet to be revealed as last year's Derby campaign inspired a hugely generous act from a previous stranger to connections. Watch this space!
Penned ahead of his quarter-final in the 2018 Derby, the Newhall Missile story to that point can be found here: https://www.igb.ie/OwnerShip/other-syndicate-stories/missile-takes-aim-at-derby-semi-final-for-colin-and-crew/
