Fernando Alternative

YES, Fernando Bale has started his stud career with a bang.

The "much hyped" results are coming thick and fast and just about everyone is lining up at studmaster Paul Westerveld's door to buy semen for the great son of Kelsos Fusileer-Chloe Allen.

With every decent dog to hit the racetrack by Fernando, with each Group winner, and now track record breaker, the clamour for his semen grows and grows.

The fee to buy that semen continues to rise, and rise, and rise ... and the tip is $10,000 will not be beyond him very, very soon.

Broodbitch owners are already scratching their heads to look for an alternative.

Fernando, unlike thoroughbred stallions and harness stallions, is restricted by the number of matings he is allowed to have each quarter.

WHEN is someone going to stand up and challenge that antiquated restriction of trade!

With Fernando fast becoming out of reach for most breeders, alternatives, as I mentioned before, will need to be found.

One such alternative is Worm Burner.

Yes, the son of Oaks Road-Little Looper is a VERY viable alternative to Fernando Bale.

Worm Burner's pedigree is almost identical to that of Fernando Bale, but it will take some judicious analysis of both their pedigrees to see that.

Fernando Bale is by Kelsos Fusileer, the US stud dog who was a good race dog at best, and take out Fernando and his quality littermates, and he has been pretty moderate at stud. But Kelsos Fusileer is out of an Irish-bred bitch who happens to bring in a cross of Skelligs Tiger in her make-up.

Check out the sireline of Worm Burner's sire Oaks Road and their sitting pretty in his pedigree is Curryhills Fox ... the litter brother to Skelligs Tiger.

Now move on to their respective dams.

Chloe Allen will ever be immortalised simply by the fact she is the mother of Fernando. But, the rest of her litters have been moderate at very best.

Worm Burner's mum Little Looper is the equal of just about any broodbitch you'd want to put up ... she's been that prolific.

Chloe Allen produced three Group performers, all in Fernando's litter. Little Looper produced eight.

The closeness of their pedigrees is staggering.

Chloe Allen and Little Looper are both by Primo Uno.

Next, Chloe Allen's dam Rosemary Bale (second dam of Fernando) is by Awesome Assassin and out of a daughter of Head Honcho.

Check out Little Looper's mother Koyuga Pearl and you will see her sire No Intent is by Head Honcho and that she is out of a daughter of Awesome Assassin.

Fernando and Worm Burner's dams are bred along identical lines.

BUT, it does not end there.

Trace the direct damline of Fernando Bale and you will come to Gail's Beauty the foundation broodbitch that put the Wheeler family on the road to fame and glory ... to Fernando Bale.

Now, trace the direct damline of Worm Burner and you will come to Gail's Beauty ... yes, the same Gail's Beauty obviously as in Fernando Bale

.

Surely, by now, no one can question that the similarities in the pedigrees of Fernando Bale and Worm Burner are simply staggering.

They are virtually brothers.

Worm Burner raced for Cameron Butcher and his family over in South Australia.

He was a special race dog who started 84 times for a remarkable 48 wins and 20 placings and earnings of $380,000. He won the Group 1 National Sprint, was second in the Adelaide Cup, third in the Melbourne Cup, and a finalist in the Topgun, Shootout, Temlee and another Adelaide Cup and a Gawler Cup.

Worm Burner had his first litter whelped on June 3 in 2017. Those pups are not even 13 months old.

He's had 30 litters to date and that should give him plenty of opportunity to get started on his stud career, or at least give breeders a guide on how he should best be mated.

I wonder how well Worm Burner would have gone mated to Tears Siam the Group finalist and litter sister to champion Space Star who to Fernando has whelped Tornado Tears.

Or if Searle Bale, the litter sister to Tomac Bale and three-quarter sister to Barcia Bale, and herself a Group performer, had been mated to Worm Burner just how well the pups would have gone. To Fernando, Searle Bale has produced Hecton Bale.

And if Group 1 Nat Sprint winner Chica Destacarda had gone to Worm Burner, would she have produced three Group finalists?

Or if Group 1 finalist Nicki Fields, a litter sister to star galloper Xtreme Knocka, had whelped her litter to Worm Burner would it have produced dual Group 1 winner Out Of Range and Group 2 victor Poke The Bear.

Those are just a minute sample of the illustrious bitches to have been mated to Fernando Bale and have since made their mark with Group class progeny.

Unlike Fernando Bale though, Worm Burner is line bred in his pedigree. He has the sisters Sobbing Sal and Hot Show Deb 4x4. He is also line bred to the sisters Zulu Moss and Riviera Moss.

Not only should Worm Burner be a successful stud dog, that saturation of famous broodbitches in his pedigree should also help him become a very good broodbitch sire as well.

Food for thought?