Caption: Dave Fitzgerald’s 1984 Australian Cup winner Tangairn
By David Brasch
SOME time ago, Chase Newspaper caught up with former Victorian, now Queensland-based Dave Fitzgerald, whose first ever greyhound was the mercurial Tangairn.
Dave admits Tangairn was so special a greyhound that the son of Tangaloa-Del Bairn Babe by Del Bairn virtually trained himself to win 20 of his 36 race starts including the 1984 Australian Cup.
He was also second in the Coca-Cola Cup at the Gabba, broke track records at Angle Park and Cranbourne and was .01 off the record at Sandown.
Dave ‘stole’ Tangairn for a paltry $700 as a pup after the litter had been hit by parvo.
By Australian Cup winner Tangaloa, also sire of legend Pretty Short, from the great race bitch Del Bairn Babe, who had run the Olympic Park distance record and won the Maidment Memorial and an Anniversary Trophy.
There is hardly a pedigree of today that does not have a cross of Tangairn hidden back among the distant ancestors.
History can teach us a great deal and designing greyhound pedigrees is one such avenue.
So, with that in mind, I thought this month we could take a look back at Tangairn, see what made him tick, and see just why he became such a great race dog and stud influence.
And, along the way, find some common pedigree design via Eaglehawk Star and why one became a dominant broodbitch sire, the other an influence through his sons.
Tangairn has an absolutely fascinating pedigree. It shows he is:
In-bred 4×3 to litter sister and brother Venetian Babe and Venetian Court (Brenda’s Babe-Venetian Rose);
In-bred 5×4 to half brothers Chief Zephyr (Oakleigh Chief-Our Cola) and Oakley’s Pal (Tralee Lad-Our Cola) and significantly along a pathway in Tangairn’s pedigree to be able to greatly impact;
In-bred 5x5x4 to brothers Shan’s View and Sunny Streak (Sunview-Shan’s Gift).
But, what was also hugely significant in Tangairn’s make-up is the fact both his sire and dam trace directly to the imported foundation bitch Tapestry.
What all this shows us is that Tangairn was incredibly in-bred to famous FEMALES … Shan’s Gift, Our Cola, Venetian Rose and Tapestry.
At stud, Tangairn became the sire of some high quality racetrack performers, including Modern Express, High Intensity, Modern Gossip and Club Edition. He mixed with a variety of lines.
But, it was as a broodbitch sire that Tangairn left his greatest influence. Does that really surprise us considering he was so in-bred himself to four famous females.
His daughters came up with track stars like Malawi Law, Boronia Blossom, Dallas Duo, Midnight Flirt, Bomber Gleeson, Southroad Sid, Wild Pirate, Toban Leah, Sheedy … it went on and on and on.
His daughter, Queensland-based National Queen, a runner-up in a Qld Futurity final at the Gabba, left her own legacy through her daughter Tenthill Flyer the dam of champions Flying Amy and Tenthill Doll – the first two inducted into Australia’s Greyhound Hall of Fame.
Which brings us to Eaglehawk Star who is also bred on the Tangaloa/Del Bairn cross to bring in the strongly placed cross of half brothers Chief Zephyr and Oakley’s Pal.
Eaglehawk Star’s dam is Country Coast who boasted a 3×3 cross of the littermates Shan’s Blossom and Bid’s View (Shan’s View-Tebessa).
But, unlike Tangairn, Eaglehawk Star was NOT saturated with female influences in his pedigree.
At stud, Eaglehawk Star, yet another Australian Cup winner, became a high-class stud dog. His best included greats like Iceni Princess, Dashing Eagle, Ginger, Casino Tom, Iceni Regent and Iceni Brave. His son Frightful Flash went to Ireland to become a great sire.
Being such a successful sire, Eaglehawk Star’s daughters were also expected to become fine producers. They came up with Totally Ablaze, La Twist, Welder Jack, Mutombo Miss, Elynya Prince, Incacia Runaway etc.
Tangairn, saturated with famous and influential females, became a much better broodbitch sire than Eaglehawk Star.
Eaglehawk Star, bred on the same Tangaloa/Del Bairn cross, but not as greatly impacted by famous females, got a number of fine sire sons. His son Ginger got Black Shiraz, who got Bombastic Shiraz and Primo Uno.
What might also be interesting to breeding enthusiasts is that Tangairn’s dam Del Bairn Babe went to Chief Dingaan and came up with a bitch called Nikki Bairn a very, very fine race bitch, winner of the Olympic Park Sprint Championship.
Nikki Bairn became the dam of Famous Portrait, winner of 20 races and placed 30 times. She is the third dam of Primo Uno … yes, the same Primo Uno who has Eaglehawk Star as his third sire.
Primo Uno is in-bred 4×4 to Shy Sarah and Nikki Bairn. They are both from the Temlee sireline and have Mandalass in their damline. Mandalass is the dam of Del Bairn Babe.
The Famous Portrait damline continues to toss up superstars today.
Poke The Bear (Fernando Bale-Nicki Fields) is hugely in-bred to the ‘Portrait’ family.
Is it any wonder with such a pedigree saturation!
