The Winning Key! Keybow's Undeniable Stud Success

ASTUTE breeders are keeping a very close eye on the stud success of Keybow – and rightly so. 

There's no argument, he is “punching way above his weight”. As they say, the numbers don't lie.

There is no doubting the son of Take The Kitty-Key Exit by Over Flo was the supreme athlete racing 58 times for 27 wins, 16 placings and $581,000 in stakes.

He won the Group 1 Perth Cup, Group 1 Brisbane Cup, Group 3 Silver Bullet, was second in the Group 1 Australian Cup and third in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup, Group 1 Winter Cup and a finalist in the Group 1 Topgun.

When he went to stud, trying to compete with the likes of Barcia Bale and Fernando Bale was always going to be tough, but he's held up his end of the bargain for breeders … and then some!

Keybow is proving he is a stud dog able to produce the sort of stats broodbitch owners love.

And those stats put him above any of the top 70 stud dogs in the country.

Keybow's winners to runners stats stand at 24 percent. From just 57 runners on the track in 2019, he is the sire of the winners of 149 races.

Compare that with Barcia Bale at 17 percent winners to runners and Fernando Bale's 17 percent winners to runners, and you can easily see Keybow is indeed a sire of which to take notice.

His city winning percentage is just as good at 20 percent winners to runners, putting him in second of the top 70 stud dogs behind only Worm Burner.

And Keybow is certainly getting classy gallopers from his first offspring to race.

Keybow is the sire of Friskey (31 wins, $44,000, Dapto TR), Embye (14 wins, $44,000, Temora TR), Miss Vee (17 wins, $42,000), Beau Gem (13 wins, $34,000), Zinkey (8 wins, $28,000, finalist G1 Nat Futurity), Jye Nismo (16 wins, $27,000), Poppy Chooky (18 wins, $26,000), Cash A Roo (11 wins, $21,000) etc.

There are plenty of smart youngster coming along to say Keybow will be a stud force with some time. At Angle Park on Thursday night, Keybow sired a winning double. In fact on Thursday night he sired five winners around the country, and this isn't a one off, it's happening constantly.

Keybow stands with Tony Wiseman at Sires On Ice.

Keybow's stud page

He has an intensely in-bred pedigree … he is almost a replica of Bombastic Shiraz.

Our Miss Tilly, dam of Keybow's sire Take The Kitty, is in-bred 3×2 to the virtual brother and sister Malawi and Supreme Image.

Malawi is Waverly Supreme-Sabby's Image while Supreme Image is by Waverly Supreme's son Chariot Supreme-Sabby's Image.

Keybow's dam Key Exit is bred identically to Bombastic Shiraz.

She carries the brothers Malawi and Buka Sunset 4×4, and significantly also traces directly along her damline to Zimbabwe (this is the famous Zulu Moss family).

So when Key Exit was mated to Take The Kitty it produced intense 2×1 in-breeding to two bitches (Our Miss Tilly and Key Exit) who are bred on an identical cross.

Keybow also has a 2×3 cross of Big Daddy Cool and his half brother Brett Lee. Both are found along the direct sireline on both sides of the pedigree.

He also is duplicated to Malawi's Prince 4×4 and balanced (via a son and daughter).

Keybow is from one of the greatest damlines this country has ever seen, tracing directly to champion Zulu Moss (his eight dam). Zulu Moss and her litter sister Riviera Moss (Which Chariot-Cursorial) are found in numerous champions' pedigrees.

Metal Springs, the fifth dam of Keybow, was a superstar from a superstar litter. She ran track records at Penrith and Beenleigh winning the time-honoured Queensland Cup.

Metal Spring's litter brother Worth Doing is one of the greatest greyhounds to have raced. Other littermates included Group class Wary Suspect, Our Blue Haven.

A three-quarter brother Hug The Rail became a NSW greyhound of the year.

Georgia Belle, the third dam of Keybow, ran a track record at Canberra and was second in the Penrith Stayers Championship and became a superstar broodbitch.

Georgia Belle is the dam of National Derby winner Brother Knows who also ran a Goulburn track record and made a Topgun.

She is also the dam of Persian Belle who was second in the Group 1 Association Cup, third in the Sydney Cup and was a finalist in the Wentworth Park Gold Cup and another Sydney Cup.

At stud, Persian Belle became the dam of Persian Spy, winner of the Dapto Silver Collar and a finalist in the Golden Easter Egg, and Catmando who won the Easter Egg Consolation.

Keybow was always going to be suited to a mating to bitches with Bombastic Shiraz in their pedigree. And, this has found great proof just recently via a sister to Keybow, a bitch called Bat Outa Hell.

She is the dam of Final Plea (by Lightning Frank) a 24.91 winner at Ipswich in a Maiden final a few weeks ago by 11 lengths.

Lightning Frank carries an up-close cross of Bombastic Shiraz in his damline.

Which means Keybow is absolutely crying out for bitches with Bombastic Shiraz and Primo Uno (SONS of Black Shiraz) in their pedigree. 

Bitches by Fernando Bale, Kilty Lad, Worm Burner and Buckles Up Wes, whose dams are by Primo Uno, will suit Keybow.

Sisters to Fernando Bale's champions Tornado Tears and Rippin' Sam are a MUST for Keybow because they carry crosses of the famed stayer and broodbitch, Trojan Tears.

Keybow's fifth dam is Metal Springs a SISTER to Worth Doing. It would make sense also to make sure Keybow mates as many bitches with Worth Doing (and his litter brother Wary Suspect) as possible.

Obviously this would be best via a DAUGHTER. National Dingaan, found in the damline of Magic Sprite, Oaks Road, Trewly Special, Trew Millions, the brothers Talks Cheap and Bo Frazier, Royal Assassin and Clearwater Boy etc etc etc, is a daughter of Worth Doing.

Flo Jo Tears, found in a strong position in the pedigree of Keybow, is bred along very similar lines to Token Prince.

It would also make sense to mate to Keybow as many bitches as possible with Token Prince in their pedigree.

He should also mate as many bitches as possible whose pedigrees contain a DAUGHTER of Brett Lee.

Consider how many of those are about. Keybow's star daughters Friskey and Zinkey (Keybow-Black Riband) are out of a daughter of Head Bound the half brother to Brett Lee and Big Daddy Cool. The Keybow-Black Riband mating has been done three times.

Miss Vee carries in her dam, Bombastic Shiraz, a daughter of Brett Lee, and a cress of Token Prince.

Keybow can also take bitches that carry just one more cross of Malawi's Prince via either a son or daughter.

This includes daughters of Collision, Bombastic Shiraz, El Galo, Modern Assassin, Go Wild Teddy, Collide, the brothers Knockabout Wok and Puzzle Prize … even Keybow's own damsire Over Flo for some intense in-breeding.

Cosmic Rumble bitches, those by Fabregas, and anything with Bearability in their make-up will suit Keybow.

Many of the truly great stud dogs of the past few decades have been intensely in-bred … Collision, Bombastic Shiraz, Where's Pedro and Hallucinate, Surf Lorian, Head Honcho and right back to the greatest of them all Temlee.

What such intensity of pedigree does is allow the stud dog to dominate most bitches. This can almost be assured with Keybow.