| An interesting article from the Greyhound Racing Victoria website giving some of the top breeders views on the subject of repeat matings. Top breeders split on the science of repeat matings There is a theory in greyhound folklore that when it comes to repeat matings the odds of the litter resulting in something special is minimal. A repeat mating is a litter that is not the first produced to the same combination of sire and dam. Regardless of how good a first mating may have been, some breeders blatantly refuse to take their dam back to the same sire. Paul Wheeler is one of seven top breeders recently asked to express his views on repeat matings, and he didnt pull any punches when stating he isn't a big fan. In my opinion when talking about breeding you can never say a particular thing happens all the time. The best we can say is something happens in the majority of cases, and that there is always an exception to the rule", Wheeler said. "My experiences with repeat matings is that the quality appears to decrease each time the repeat mating occurs." "That said, the best success I've had with them is not to mate to the same dog in succession, but to use say Dog A first, then Dog B second, then go back to Dog A. I have no idea why this is the case, but it seems to have work best for us in the past. Victoria's Tony McGrath agrees that there is a good percentage of breeders that shy away from repeat matings, although the numbers have decreased over the years." "What some people forget is that repeat matings occur when something special comes out of the first mating, so the dam is on a hiding to nothing because the expectations are often unrealistically high, McGrath said. Interestingly, McGrath was one of three of the seven breeders [along with Peter Giles and Helen Ivers] who spoke glowingly about repeat matings based on their own experiences. A fourth, Lenny Jones was also positive, and is looking forward to breeding his first repeat mating in the near future. Paul Bartolo, currently ranked Victorias number one breeder according to Greyhound Racing Victoria rankings, has some scepticism about repeat matings despite the fact he has had good success from them, and his cautious views are shared to some degree by GRVs current number two breeder, Des Dooley. Paul Bartolo (Victoria)
Q. Have you ever bred a repeat mating?
A. Several times. Q. Would you breed a repeat mating in the future?
A. Possibly. Q. Would you buy a pup from repeat mating?
A. No. Comment: "I'm a bit 50/50 on repeat matings. I have had group winners from them, but from my experience our second litters haven't been quite as good as the first." Des Dooley (Victoria)
Q. Have you ever bred a repeat mating?
A. Once. Q. Would you breed a repeat mating in the future?
A. Probably. Q. Would you buy a pup from repeat mating?
A. Maybe. Comment: "I bred one repeat mating many years ago. I'd be a lot more confident about breeding a repeat mating again if the dam was six years old or younger and if she hadn't had more than three or four litters." Peter Giles (Victoria)
Q. Have you ever bred a repeat mating?
A. Many times. Q. Would you breed a repeat mating in the future?
A. Yes. Q. Would you buy a pup from repeat mating?
A. Yes. Comment: "The best litter Ihave ever bred was from a repeat mating of Gun Law Osti and Floodgate. Ihave bred repeat matings a lot of times and the second litter is always as good as the first,if not better." Helen Ivers (Victoria)
Q. Have you ever bred a repeat mating?
A. A few times. Q. Would you breed a repeat mating in the future?
A. Yes. Q. Would you buy a pup from repeat mating?
A. Yes. Comment: "I've always found them to work really well for me. Genetics is genetics and I don't understand why any breeder would shy away from repeat matings." Lenny Jones (Victoria)
Q. Have you ever bred a repeat mating?
A. No. Q. Would you breed a repeat mating in the future?
A. Yes. Q. Would you buy a pup from repeat mating?
A. Yes. Comment: "If the first mating was a success then I would certainly go to the same sire again. In fact Iplan tomate Offspringer with Mogambo again as the first litter has produced Echelon and Granduer." Tony McGrath (Victoria)
Q. Have you ever bred a repeat mating?
A. Yes. Q. Would you breed a repeat mating in the future?
A. Yes. Q. Would you buy a pup from repeat mating?
A. Yes. Comment: "Repeat matings generallyoccur when something special comes from the first mating,and the odds of something special coming from the second mating are going to be reduced, no matter which sire she goes to." Paul Wheeler (NSW)
Q. Have you ever bred a repeat mating?
A. Yes. Q. Would you breed a repeat mating in the future?
A. Yes, under special circumstances. Q. Would you buy a pup from repeat mating?
A. Probably not. Comment: "In general Iam not a big fan of repeat matings, but when a female has produced so good to a particular sire it is very tempting to have another go and see what happens."
| 
Do you have questions about breeding theories? 
