Panhandle and Double One

EXCITING South Australian youngster Panhandle Slim is likely to join the Seona and Jason Thompson kennel in Melbourne.

Veteran trainer Ray Murray, who bred, owns and trains the home-bred son of Kalden Komoto-Sometimes Speedy, announced this after the dog had brilliantly won the recent Produce Stakes at Gawler over a high class field.

He scored by nine lengths in a fast 30.55 to bring his record to 17 starts for 10 wins and six placings and $26,000.

The success of Panhandle Slim is a credit to the faith Murray has put in Kalden Komoto his iron dog who started 105 times for 32 wins and 51 placings for $73,000 in stakes in South Australia.

"He's had only four bitches in his stud career but all of those to the races have tossed up a very nice race dog or two," said Ray.

"It is amazing that breeders ignore dogs like Kalden Komoto despite seeing how good they were on the racetrack and the sort of offspring they can produce."

Murray is never short in his praise of Kalden Komoto.

"So tough, and with a wonderful temperament" he said. "He raced for four years, was a fabulous chaser and never once had an injury."

Kalden Komoto won the Strathalbyn Cup and was a SA Derby finalist after being initially sent to Murray from breeder Dan Biddle in WA.

He is from Biddle's famous direct damline tracing to Albion Park winner Dale's Fancy.

His fourth dam Bonnie Chariot (Chariot Supreme-National Queen) was a famed producer in Queensland and a sister to Tenthill Flyer the dam of Hall of Famers Flying Amy and Tenthill Doll.

That Strathalbyn Cup victory by Kalden Komoto was especially pleasing for Ray.

"He knocked off a dog trained by my son Troy," said Ray. "It is an hour and a half home from Strathalbyn for us and Troy never said one word to me on that trip home."

Of Panhandle Slim, Ray has been particularly careful.

"He broke in OK but I have purposely brought him along slowly," he said. "He was 18 months old when he had his first start and I made sure he stayed in short races to bring him along.

"But the moment he stepped up to 500m he just improved out of sight."

Kalden Komoto has litters from Frantic Fusion, Avid Tyson and Sometimes Speedy on the racetrack.

"There was a dog called Armalite in the Frantic Fusion litter that was going to be very special but he broke a hock," said Ray.

Ray admits that he struggles to understand the reasoning of some breeders when using stud dogs from other states ahead of the former race stars they saw right in front of them.

"What really amazes me is they will continue to use some stud dogs that have already proven they cannot make it at stud," said Ray.

"I can never understand people going to poor sires."

The breeding bonus scheme in South Australia allows for breeders to undertake matings at a reduced fee.

"When Kalden Komoto retired I put a fee of $1000 on him," said Ray. "In South Australia we get $500 of that back so it makes the fee attractive to breeders here."

Panhandle Slim's dam Sometimes Speedy (Collision-Gemstone Supreme) was a high class race bitch winning 25 races and making the final of the Group 1 Easter Egg and Sapphire Crown.

Panhandle Slim's pedigree is a virtual outcross with no common ancestor within the first five generations. New Tears, Brother Fox and Acacia Ablaze are then duplicated, both only once, on the fifth line.

Ray says Sometimes Speedy's first two matings produced offspring that struggled to get 500m.

Not so Panhandle Slim.

THE emergence of Queenslander Double Gee as a staying force is pleasing to say the least.

He is by champion Dyna Double One-Hot Spur the damline that of the famed broodbitch Gravel Rash.

Hot Spur was an outstanding race bitch and has been a successful producer. It is a damline that Angela Langton and her mum Sue Smith have utilised with huge success. Group 1 winner Que Sera Sera is from the family.

Double Gee is unbeaten over 710m at Albion Park winning all three tries in super fast times. Mick Zammit admits he is the best stayer to come out of the kennel he and wife Selena have so successfully run for decades.

But the aspect of Double Gee's success I find most pleasing is that he is by Dyna Double One the millionaire son of Barcia Bale-Crystin Bale who has copped an undeserving bagging from some for the early results he has produced at stud.

There is no doubt Dyna Double One would have been an even greater legend than he was on the racetrack if stepped up to 700m.

And, this is what he is proving best as already ... a siring source of strength.

He is already showing a great liking for bitches that carry the National Dingaan family. This is how Double Gee and his Kiwi-based stars Cawbourne Krusty and Cawbourne Taber are bred.

I have always thought daughters of Magic Sprite and his genetic brother Oaks Road would be naturals for Dyna Double One. They fit the National Dingaan bill, but also bring in a cross of Spiral Nikita as well.

Broodbitch owners are always quick to condemn a stud dog if his first litter to the track does not produce a multitude of Group stars.

A wise old breeding guru told me 40 years ago ... judge a stud dog 12 months after he has his first city winner. Never a truer statement was said.