TARAGLEN Irish Setters
TARAGLEN was established by Keith McCarthy in 1967 . It is a kennel which has produced multi Best In Show winners and more than 109 champions as well as providing the foundation stock for various breeders around Australia and overseas.
Now retired from active breeding, Keith remains involved in the breed as a Life Member of the Irish Setter Club of Victoria and as an All Breeds Dog Judge, he is in demand to officiate at exhibitions, both throughout Australia and Internationally.
Aust Ch Taraglen Xtravaganza
(Ch Shelomith Renaissance – Ch Taraglen La Stupenda )
The TARAGLEN Story
In 1967 I purchased a puppy bitch, MAVANG AMBER GLOW, from Barbara and Bob Watt (MAVANG Irish Setters). A year later a second bitch puppy GREGLYNN GISELLE, was acquired from Sydney and these two bitches were the foundation stock of the TARAGLEN strain. AMBER and GISELLE were first cousins, the former being sired by a top winner and producer from the famous TATLOW Kennels, CH TATLOW FIELDBOY, ex CH KILCONNELL KARA. GISELLE was from FIELDBOY’S litter sister, CH TATLOW IRISH MEMORY and sired by CH PARRLEYN PERRY OSHEA.
AMBER proved to be a great success, both in the show ring and as a brood bitch she produced 11 champions, 5 of which were Best In Show winners. Herself a Best in Show winner, AMBER’s best wins were Challenge and Best Gundog Bitch at the 1970 Melbourne Royal Show under Mr L James of WENDOVER Kennels, Opposite Sex in Show at the 1971 Irish Setter Club of Victoria’s Championship show and she followed this by winning Best Exhibit at the Specialty the next year, Best Setter any variety at the 1971 PAL International and Bitch Challenge at the 1973 Brisbane Royal Show. GISELLE won Best Exhibit in Show at the Irish Setter Speciality in 1969 aged thirteen months under breed specialist Mrs E Lambert of TARA Kennels. however, ‘Zel’ had a very brief show career due to a motor car accident.
The first TARAGLEN litter was whelped in June 1969, by CH PARRLEYN PERRY OSHEA ex CH MAVANG AMBER GLOW, producing 3 champions, TROILUS, TAMARRA & TIFFANY. TROILUS was a great success in the show ring. At nine months of age he won Best Exhibit at the Irish Setter Club of Victoria’s Parade, as an adult he was all breeds Best in Show winner, the 1972 Melbourne Royal Show Challenge winner and Best Exhibit in Show at the Irish Setter Club of Victoria’s Championship show in 1973. The big disappointment with TROILUS was that he was sterile.
In 1971 CH MAVANG AMBER GLOW was mated to CH GREGLYNN RED RADIANCE, whom I later purchased from Marge Deane of TATLOW . This was another highly successful litter producing the champions ACHILLES, ARABESQUE, AUROR & TOCCATA. ACHILLES was a Best in Show winner and AURORA twice won Opposite Sex in Show at the Hobart Royal. TOCCATA was the outstanding Irish of her time – at her first outing she was awarded Best Baby Puppy all breeds and she never looked back. KAT loved being shown, she was extemely elegant and moved beautifully. Her show career was so spectacular I think it bears some analysis: She was awarded 6 Best Exhibits in Show, 21 Opposite Sex in Show, 43 Best Exhibits in Group with 32 Opposite Sex in Group, amassing a total of 2320 championship points!! At twenty months of age KAT was awarded Best Exhibit in Group at the 1972 Melbourne Royal Show by Mrs C Lindhe of Sweden. KAT also won two Adelaide royal challenges and on the first ocasion went through to Opposite Sex in Group. In 1977 she was Exhibit in Group and Opposite Sex in Show at the Hobart Royal Show. In 1974 she was Victorian Gundog of the Year and won the Inaugural Points Score Compeition of the Irish Setter Club of Victoria for Best irish setter Bitch of the Year 1976/77. Unfortunately, KAT only had one litter of which there was one survivor, a bitch, CH TARAGLEN TOCCATINA.
Only two months younger than TOCCATA was another outstanding bitch CH TARAGLEN TIMANDRA, sired by CH KILCONNELL COREY ex CH GREGLYNN GISELLE, who many rated the equal of TOCCATA, but she did not have the same flair in the ring. However, TARA too had her successes -in 1974 she was Opposite Sex in Show at the Irish Setter Club Specialty; her son , CH TARAGLEN HYPERION, aged 13 months was Best Exhibit. TARA was also a Best in Show inner, a Hobart royal Show Challenge winner and was Best Irish Setter Bitch for 1977/78. TARA produced 10 champions. CH TARAGLEN TANNHAUSER, HYPERION’s litter brother, sired by CH PARRLEYN IRISH SHANIS, was also a success with many important wins to his credit and he was Irish Setter Club of Victoria’s Dog of the Year for 1976/77. However, more importantly, he had been a very successful sire producing some outstanding winners, as did HYPERION. TANNHAUSER sired 15 champions, 8 of whom were Best In Show winners.
Grand Ch Taraglen Maximillian
Taraglen Crescendo – Ch Taraglen Spectre DeLa Rose
(owned by R & R Lowe, Tasmania)
Grand Ch Taraglen Nemagalea
Taraglen Tour De Force – Taraglen Avril
(owned by R & R Lowe – Tasmania)
Int, Jap & Aust Ch Taraglen Nautilaus
Taraglen Tour De Force – Taraglen Avril
(owned by Mari Nakashima – Tokyo, Japan)
CH GREGLYNN RED RADIANCE was acquired when he was 3 years of age. LEE was a truly outstanding producer and was a successful exhibitor too, winning the challenge at the 1972 Sydney Royal Show. Apart from TOCCATA and her litter mate champions, LEE also sired many top winers in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania. LEE was tragicaly killed in 1972.
His only other litter for TARAGLEN was through an accidental mating with his litter sister CH GREGLYNN GISELLE. This resulted in two champions, CALLISTA & TREVALLION. The former went to South Australia and was shown with success by Ian and Beverly Grant of ANKARA Kennels. TEVALLION ws gundog Puppy of the Day at the 1972 Melbourne Royal Show. Later he went to NSW where he achieved his title in 4 shows and also sired several champions. TREVALLION was mated to CH MAVANG AMBER GLOW with 4 champions being the result. They were ELEKTRA, EXCALIBUR, ELDORADO & TOUMANOVA. TOUMANOVA was later to distinguish herself as an outstanding producer. Another exceptional bitch during this period was a multiple Best In Show winner CH TARAGLEN OPUS ONE, was was sired by CH TARAGLEN TANNHAUSER ex TARAGLEN ANASTASIA, a litter sister to TOCCATA. BRACKEN was originally owned by Sue White but was later taken over by Leigh & Anne Marie Hearn (PENDORIC).
CH TARAGLEN TOUCH OF CLASS, by CH TARAGLEN HYPERION ex SHELOMITH GAVOTTE, was the next bitch to do well. TASSY was also a Best In Show winner and in 1978 won Challenge and Opposite Sex in Group at the Adelaide Royal Show, and a fortnight later followed this by taking out the challenge at Melbourne Royal Show. The next year she was Opposite Sex in Show at the Irish Setter Club Specialty. A few months younger than TOUCH OF CLASS was CH TARAGLEN AMBER GLOW, also by HYPERION ex CH TARAGLEN TOUMANOVA. AMBER did not carry a good coat and was not extensively shown, however she too was a best in show winner and in 1979 won Exhibit in Group and Opposite Sex in Show at the Adelaide Royal. At this same show, a puppy bitch, TARAGLEN THE FIREBIRD was awarded Puppy in Group and Opposite Sex Puppy in Show.
Ch Taraglen Renaissance
Int, Jap, Aust Ch Taraglen Nautilus – Taraglen Titian Tess
(owned by Elain Saxon – Maghera Kennels)
Ch Taraglen Quadrille
Taraglen Top Gun – Taraglen Titian Tess
Ch Taraglen Spectre De La Rose
Ch Taraglen Toccason – Ch Taraglen Maria
Aust Ch Taraglen Xtravaganza
(Ch Shelomith Renaissance – Ch Taraglen La Stupenda )
(owned by Mr & Mrs John Buckley)
Ch Taraglen Spellbinder
In 1976 I ws fortunate to lease an English bred bitch who was brought to Australia by her owners Tricia & Michael Wheatley. she was FONDADOR ELEANORE. Mated to CH TARAGLEN TANNHAUSER she produced 3 champions, ZABRISKI, ZENITH & ZODIAC, all of whom were Best In Show winners, with the first two doing particularly well and worthy of individual mention. ZENITH & ZABRISKI were two of the best males produced by TANNHAUSER, and in turn distinguished themselves as sires. ZABRISKI went to Neil & gwenda Redpath in Tasmania where he enjoyed a successful show career. He was also exhibited in Victoria where he won several Groups and two Best Exhibit in Shows. In 1981 he was shown at the Setter Club of NSW where he beat CH TARAGLEN TOUCH OF CLASS for Best of Breed and then went on to best In show. BRUCE’s overall record was 9 Best In Shows, 2 Opposite Sex In Shows, 24 Best Exhibit in Groups and 4 Opposite Sex in Groups. He produced 9 champions.
ZENITH remained in Victoria with Debbie Gorman, who was fifteen years old. They learned together and DANNY had an enviable show record. As a young intermediate DANNY won Dog Challenge and Best of Breed over TOUCH OF CLASS at the Melbourne Royal Show. the next year he again won the Royal Challenge. In September 1983, aged 7, he won his third Melbourne Royal Show Challenge. In 1982 DANNY also won best Exhibit at two Specialty Shows. the South Australian Irish Setter Club under breed specialist Mrs F MacDonald and in Victoria at the Irish Setter Club show under American setter specialist Mrs Marsha Hall-Brown. At this latter show his daughter CH TARAGLEN JENUFA was Opposite Sex in Show. DANNYs overall show record was 4 All Breeds Best in Shows with 1 Opposite in Show and 25 Best Exhibit in Groups with 4 Opposites. DANNY sired 11 champions.
TANNHAUSER and ELEANORE were mated again in 1977 and from this litter there wee 3 champions – FLORESTAN, FANDANGO & FLAIR. FLAIR was awarded Opposite Sex in Show at the irish Setter Club of Victoria’s specialty in 1981.
In 1977, American bloodlines were introduced when CH MAVANG MYSTIC MARK was mated to CH TARAGLEN TIMANDRA. MAVANG MYSTIC MARK was sired by ROBALEE YANK (Imp USA) ex CH TARAGLEN TAMARRA CD. This mating produced 5 champions – TABARD, TALLULAH, BELVEDERE, BEL CANTO & BALTHAZAR. The last two went to South Australia, BEL CANTO to Max Winch of IDYLEWINS Kennels and BALTHAZAR to John & Jill Chard of CHADWAY Kennels.
Ch Taraglen Zamorrow
Please return at a later date…………….
TARAGLEN Irish Setters
KEITH McCARTHY
Melbourne, Victoria
email: [email protected]
