pedigree

Hercules of Sepp-Alta („Hank“) represented a typically, well balanced, solid boned specimen of the Seppala Line with it's distinct performance efficiency.

„A Seppala line is any line which traces back to any of the10 foundation dogs (ca. 1930): Kree Vanka, Tserko, Harry, Smokey, Togo, Kolyma, Nome, Pearl, Dushka, Sonia —provided that line does not pass through three successive generations of cosmetic non-work-oriented breeding.“ (out of „The Seppala Siberian“ by Douglas W. Willett)

In 1989 during our first racing journey in the U.S.A., we got to know the quality of the Seppala Siberian Husky and learned to appreciate it.

Even so these dogs were missing the elegant and racy looks of the European sprint dogs, the good representatives of this line impressed us with their toughness and endurance, as well as with their absolute determination to pull, bordering self-sacrifice. This stubbornness or determination to concentrate on their inherited work ethic, often combined with a character of great self-confidence, results in dogs, which are not always easy to be trained and/or handled.

In his own line Hercules had already produced the Sepp-Alta N-litter. Three oft the litter of seven, Narley, Nestly and Nugget,  became leaders of the Sepp-Alta team. Nutok, a male, was imported by us to Germany and after two years went on to Great Britain. In the years 1988-1991, those dogs were  key dogs of the Willett team. He placed regularly under the first three during the racing seasons 1986 to 1988 and very often his team was winning against high class Alaskan competitors like Grant Beck, Tim White, John Patton etc. Those teams regularly attended the rapidly growing Mid-Distance circuit which had become very attractive (also in prize money).

This article of Anneliese Braun-Witschel was first published in SHC-Aktuell No. 6 - August 1997

The Open team of Doug Willett raced in the season 1988 at 8 events with 21 heats, of which 19 were 50 to 60 miles long. The team placed first 4 times, once second and came in twice in third place. It was one of the most successful seasons of the Willett Siberians. To me, having raced sprint and being a newcomer to distance racing, it was inconceivable to find Siberians which did not loose their spirit and were not crippled for the rest of their life after such a season.1991 we leased Hercules for two years as stud for our kennel. During his time in Europe, he produced at least 103 alive pups, in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain.

Outstanding representatives of his offspring with it's great pulling determination here in Europe were: Alka-Shan´s Callico and Arctic Sound Guitka, top leaders winning the Empire 130 twice, the Enduro 100 twice, Elton 80 etc.,  and Brandy of Snow Creek Valley, Buffi of Snow Creek Valley, Skookum´s Hullabalou, Arctic Sound Gilak, Somerset Island Opium, Somerset Island Omega, Lancer of Konetaiv, Devil Damion of Hell's Gate (Yellow) as teammates or co-leaders, Amli Noma's Celine, Amly-Noma's Cristel (Dr. Dieter Dolif's Quest Team).

During the years 1993 to 1996, at a time when this first generation European offspring of Hercules was in it's prime, the Alka-Shan team was the most competitive Siberian team to beat at the mid-distance races in the Mid-West.

For me personally, the greatest single success was a second place finish at the Beargrease 130, against 28 competitors in the 10 dog class. At this race 8 dogs in my team were Hercules progeny. Interesting is the fact, that those dogs, descending from females out of the various existing racing lines, bred to Hercules showed an exceptional amount of high breed vigor. These exclusively from performance proven parents selected dogs, overcame the performance levels of their sire and dams and possessed a greater capability concerning speed, metabolism and athletic structure. Fortunately they had not lost any of the Seppala qualities like toughness and pulling determination (by „diluting the pure Seppala gene pool“).

Hercules will be alive forever in his offspring. His genes helped to enlarge the gene pool and to strengthen the soundness of the Siberian-Husky population.