| Any mating , deemed successful or otherwise, could contain a number of any of those so-called theories I think theories is very poor terminology for the whole thread Most of these processes are what people have seen over time to be leading aspects of a successful racers pedigree that they wish to re-create, but it seems to be a half glass full vs a half glass empty approach. People who support any of whats mentioned see what they want to see that supports their thinking and block out the negatives. The only one who goes close to being a theory is Ryan's, as from what I understand, he tries to use genetic markers in X paths and Y Paths, proven by science to re-create superior individuals in a pedigree. He makes no judgement on any sire and purely looks for the markers in the pedigrees that support his thinking. Whether he is successful or not its not for me to say or to judge him on, but at least he is providing some insight into what may be going on further back down the line From my personal experience, I am pretty basic and use proven nicks in my mating's and try to cover the whole pedigree with proven nicks within the first 4 generations to try and shut off any weaknesses there may be lying in the pedigree. I generally try to balance out the pedigree with an outcross sire that I know nicks with the lines I am working with in the pedigree of the prospective sire/dam and don't line breed within 3 generations unless I feel there is enough outcross to balance it out Then I come up with a selection of sires that fit my criteria and then I go through the process of finding complements to the females physical characteristics i.e. size, early speed, finishing speed, stamina, keenness, chase, hyper/laidback etc Then there is the rearing, early education and handling and then break in, pre-training and training which all shape a dogs future on the track If you fail in any of those latter stages, you are up shit creek anyway I think that's the best I can do..if it works it works, if it doesn't then back to the drawing board I can find a combination of all these so-called above mentioned theories in any of the mating's I have done in the past and probably into the future I think any person who relies SOLELY on any one of those so-called theories is wasting their time Therefore, in my mind, they aren't theories at all, only characteristics built up over time that people notice and then latch onto with some kind of obsession On their own, they aren't answers to the riddle of breeding a great dog
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Do you have questions about breeding theories? 
