Caption: Sennachie, left, and Kealoah at Selena and Mick Zammit’s kennels.

• November 2023

SOME years ago, back in 2015 to be precise, Charles Cramp, a familiar face around south-east Queensland racetracks, called about a bitch he had been racing.

Her name was Just Itchin’ and she was by Charles’ classy galloper Brett’s Rival from Super Itch, a bitch whose mother had been the imported Brookline Rose (Larkhill Jo-Fantastic Offer).

Just Itchin’ could run a bit, but 395m around Albion Park pulled her up. She did win 14 races and $26,000.

Charles reckoned she deserved a mating and asked for some advice.

Just Itchin’s sire, Brett’s Rival, was already in-bred to the famed Wee Sal/I’m Blessed damline.

Spring Gun was suggested as the mate one reason being that he carried Big Daddy Cool as his damsire and thus he was perfectly placed to be able to further influence the pedigree of the resultant offspring with the I’m Blessed damline.

Charles did the mating and then sold them off as one of the last things he did in his time in greyhound racing.

The litter could run … really run.

Among them is Spring Time Girl (18 wins, $74,000) a Group 1 finalist for Jean Hose.

But, Jeff Jones snapped up a fawn bitch he named Kealoah and she proved to be one tough cookie racing 104 times for 12 wins, 33 placings, and $84,000 in stakes.

Jeff, unfortunately, died during her career and she was left to his wife Lillian. Daughter Selena Zammit and her husband Mick took over the training of the bitch.

She became a Masters special late in her career.

The one thing Spring Time Girl and Kealoah have going for them as potential broodbitches is their pedigree … saturated with the I’m Blessed/Wee Sal/Sobbing Sal bloodlines. There are few better in the world.

All that needed to be done with both bitches was mate them to allow all that damline influence to come through.

Around this time, Victorian training star Steve White had a hot young dog called Sennachie (Fernando Bale-Rhonda Rocks) … another pedigree designed by us.

Steve sent him to Mick and Selena while he campaigned over a couple of seasons at Albion Park.

The stint in the north made him a legend, running the track record, winning G1s, all of which established his stud career.

Mick, Selena, and of course Lillian, fell in love with him.

When the time came for Kealoah to be mated, Sennachie was naturally the first choice.

Mick has said often what a magnificent nature Sennachie displayed when in his and Selena’s kennels.

Sennachie’s pedigree is a saturation of bloodlines, a 2×2 of Chloe Allen and Punk Rock Lass who are bred along identical lines.

Putting Kealoah to him brought in the already proven Kinloch Brae (damsire of Sennachie) cross with Bombastic Shiraz and Collision (both found in Kealoah). But, significantly what it did best was NOT put anything in the way of the impact of Kealoah’s I’m Blessed influence from getting through to her offspring.

It worked.

Along came Jay Is Jay the Lillian Jones-owned and Selena and Mick Zammit-trained superstar who eclipsed his own sire’s Albion Park track record.

His Million Dollar Chase finals berth was the icing on the cake for what will be a future stud career.

He’d been named in honour of Jeff Jones … Jay Is Jay.

His brother All Natural has won 13 races and $105,000, while Go Bing has won 13 and $78,000, Dayseas Rowdy (9 wins, $73,000) and Cluster (14 wins, $60,000) and Here Wolfe (7 wins, $44,000) are smart as well.

AND, Kealoah’s litter sister Spring Time Girl was mated to Fernando Bale himself … another mating which allowed that I’m Blessed influence to get through. It produced a super litter with a number of them being Albion Park Free For Allers.

All eight in the litter are winners and they are headed by Springtime Jet (21 wins, $143,000), Springtime Gold (14 wins, $88,000) and Mr Springtime (10 wins, $71,000) etc.

Mick, Selena and Lillian know they have a stud dog in Jay Is Jay.

He has everything to make him a success … track record, G1 class, littermates that can run, and a pedigree that keeps getting better and better.

And when Jay Is Jay ‘flattened’ favourite and chief rival Postman Pat at box rise, then pushed through along the paint to dash to the front in the Million Dollar Chase he had a cheer squad pushing him home … a cheer squad of Mick’s close mates who would certainly have been heard throughout the world.

The first Million Dollar Chase winner for Queensland.

No one deserves that accolade more than Mick and his family.