SYDNEY LEAVES AN INCREDIBLE LEGACY

Ian Fortune

Droopys Sydney will live out the rest of his days with his feet up following the news that he has been retired from stud duties. One of the greatest sires of all-time, his legacy will live on as he continues to send out an incredulous number of winners.

Aoife Dunphy (Pic right) posted a picture on social media on Monday with her giving Droopys Sydney a big kiss on the cheek, the picture was accompanied by the words, “The main man enjoying some kisses and belly rubs whilst giving it large to the other stud dogs! Droopys Sydney ❤️He will be 12 in December and is enjoyed being fully retired and the boss of the house! What a fairytale he has been for us. We will never have another like him”

Aoife is spot on. There may never be another quite like him. A young greyhound of some potential in the summer of 2013, his racing career was short lived. Soon after making a winning racing debut around Cork in late August, he suffered a career ending injury but not before clocking a rapid 18.64 in a trial over the sprint trip at Shelbourne Park.

It would be the final mark on his card and, given his inexperience, it seemed unlikely he would be heard of again. How wrong we were!

THE START OF A SPECIAL STUD CAREER

The records suggest his first litter was out of a bitch called Twinkle Brae. They were no world beaters but a couple did win in good company.

The real Droopys Sydney story started with his second litter as Johnny Linehan, who trained Droopys Sydney for his brief racing career, approached the Dunphy brothers with a request for a bitch to be served by Sydney.

Linehan knew how good Droopys Sydney was as a racer and was keen to see him serve a bitch or two. What was to follow was remarkable. Michael Dunphy has subsequently admitted it was a mistake, a miscalculation. He suggested Broadstrand Xola, mixing up her bloodlines.

The mating happened despite both Droopys Sydney and Broadstrand Xola being closely related as progeny of Produce Stakes winner Duke Special. It may have been an error but it was surely one of the greatest errors ever made in greyhound racing.

That first litter produced the brilliant Bubbly Bluebird. A star in the UK, he flew the flag for his young sire across the water, while on this side of the Irish Sea, his litter sister Droopys Harbour was amongst the fastest bitches in training for none other than Johnny Linehan.

The cat was out of the bag, although it took a while for some to be convinced. He had only a handful of litters in 2015 but again threw a number of dogs capable of running in top company. His numbers increased in 2016 and 2017 and the results came.

It was 2019 when his first real crop began to hit the track and he made real waves across the water with the likes of Goldies Hoddle, Droopys Aoife and Roman Empire. But two litters in particular really saw him hit the headlines.

A FIRST CLASSIC

Ballymac Tas finished second in the 2019 English Derby, while many of her comrades including Ballymac Syd were really top class.

Then came the litter out of Droopys Blossom. Droopys Hunch was top class and reached the final of the Juvenile Derby but it was her litter brother Broadstrand Bono that emerged on top that night. It was apt that Johnny Linehan trained Broadstrand Bono to land Droopys Sydney his first Irish classic winner.

Despite his early success, he was still only one of a great number of good sires on Irish shores but that would change. While his big races successes as a sire were relatively thin on the ground on Irish soil in 2020, he had a coming out party in the UK.

SYDNEY AN ENGLISH DERBY CHAMP

Incredibly, with relatively few litters on the ground, he was responsible for half of the final line-up in the 2020 English Derby at Nottingham. Coolavanny Chick and Smurfs Machine both did themselves proud but Deerjet Sydney provided his sire with a first Derby success.

The wind was now firmly in his sails and he was on his way to becoming the best and most influential stud dog of his time. 2021 really was his year, winning numerous big races including the Easter Cup and Kingdom Derby with Knocknaboul Syd, the RCETS Unraced with Toolmaker Zipper, the Rural Hawaii @ Stud Unraced at Clonmel with subsequent Champion Plate winner and Derby third Jackslittlething and many more.

By now, the results at Shelbourne Park on a Saturday night and every classic decider were starting to feature a son or daughter of Sydney. To highlight his incredible rise to the top, it is worth glancing through the Irish Greyhound Review Stud Dog of the Year tables over the years 2020 to present.

After failing to make the top ten in any of the categories – Prizemoney, Feature Races Won and Individual Winners – in 2020, he suddenly appeared on the list in 2021, finishing a close second to Droopys Jet in the table after providing the most individual feature event winners and the second most feature Events won and total prizemoney. Only for Susie Sapphire, he probably would have been a runaway winner.

A year later, he stormed to victory in 2022. He sent out two and half times more Feature Race winners to his nearest rival, almost three times the number of Individual winners and almost double the prizemoney won of his nearest rival.

He was now at the his very prime. Indeed, through the end of 2021 and all 2022, he produced an incredible amount of winners. The aforementioned Jackslittlething was his first Irish Derby finalist in 2021, eventually finishing third. A year later, no fewer than four of the finalists were sons of daughters of the super sire. Again, in 2023, he had more than one finalist, sending out three runners in the decider.

It means that in the past three years he has been responsible for just one short of half of the finalists.

Week after week, night after night, every time a potential superstar produced a big run it seemed he or she was a son or daughter of Droopys Syndey. 

In the past two years, his progeny is amongst the greatest crop ever produced by a sire. Sprinters, stayers, classic performers, dogs, bitches, they all came alike. In a matter of a couple of years he sent out numerous classic winners to add to the first success of Broadstrand Bono.

His Irish classic winners include Knocknaboul Syd, Swords Rex, Crafty Kokoro, Gaston Pecas, Raha Mofo, One Time Only, Bobsleigh Dream, Crafty Shivoo, Carrick Aldo and most recently High Trend.

He was no less prolific across the water. He has twice won the English Derby, Deerjet Sydney kicked it all off in 2020, while Gaytime Nemo handed him a second English Derby triumph earlier this year. Other big race winners in the UK include Brookside Richie, Bellmore Sally, Fromposttopillar, Coolavanny Shado, Cochise, Slick Sakina, Colavanny Auntie and so many more.

In truth, we could be listing off names all day and night and his flood of winners doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. As we pen these words, he has sired 29 Saturday night winners at Shelbourne Park since the start of September. In fact, last Saturday, six of the eleven winners were sons or daughters of Droopys Sydney.

What is also notable is the fact that his progeny are also proving a success in the breeding paddocks. Broadstrand Bono was the first of his sons to go to stud and he is starting to throw some exceptional winners, while his daughters have made a brilliant start as broods.

What is certain, we haven’t heard the last of Droopys Sydney as a sire. While the son of Duke Special and Droopys Laramie may not be available for stud duties any more, he has plenty of pups on the ground and is likely to win Stud Dog of the Year again this year and few would rule out another big year in 2024 and 2025.

The one big prize missing off his CV is a Boylesports Irish Derby success but he will likely go close next year and have another crack in 2025. For the moment, we will continue to enjoy watching the progeny of Droopys Sydney lighting up the track. His achievements in the past three years may never be matched. The best of luck in retirement to the daddy of them all, Droopys Sydney.