THE KARACHI HATCH 30 YEARS AFTER
By: Eddie Araneta

I have been asked many times to come up and detail the make-up of the Karachi Hatch. After giving it some thought and considering that this bloodline has been around for 30 years, maybe it’s about time to tell all on how the Karachi Hatch came to be, and how it is bred now, 30 years after.

It all started in 1964 when I began acquiring cocks from Billy Ruble. At that time, Billy Ruble was on top of the world as far as cockfighting was concerned in the United States. Billy was winning in most of the major tournaments and derbies dating back to 1960. What I like best about the Billy Ruble cocks is that they were extremely good cutters and had the wallop of a mule when they hit you and they would keep fighting up to their last drop of blood.

In 1966, I invited Billy to come to the Philippines to fight in the International. At that time and up to 1968, the International fights were always a main of Duke Hulsey against everyone else and thereafter, a series of big hack fights. Billy brought with him 40 cocks. In that batch were 12 brothers that were marked Right Out-Left Nose (ROLN). They were sleek looking and lemon hackle, red in color. Most were peacombed and green-legged. According to Billy, they were ¾ Hatch (Mclean & Blueface), 1/8 Whitehackle and 1/8 Claret. In that International event, we fought 22 times and overall we scored 14 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses. We fought 10 of ROLN cocks and scored 7 wins and 3 losses. We scored 2-1 against Duke Hulsey and 3-1 against Joe Goode who was also here in the Philippines. The ROLN cocks were awesome, to say the least. They fought real well and smart. And everytime they hit, they hurt the other cocks badly. The 22 fights that we had were fought in a span of 3 weeks in Araneta Coliseum and in the old Parañaque cockpit now known as Roligon.
Up to that point in time, I was not too keen on breeding as we were doing real well with Billy’s cocks. However, in 1967, there was a ban on importation of cocks and I was left with no other recourse but to breed from this end. In 1967, Billy sent me 8 hens and they were bred individually to the ROLN cocks. At that time, I did not mind the fact that a brother-sister mating was not advisable. The pullets from Yard A were then bred to the broodcock in Yard B. The pullets in Yard B were bred to the broodcock in Yard C and so on in the other yards. The pullets from one yard were never bred to their daddies. Using the same system, I bred the stags from one yard to the original hens from the other yards. These breeding yards are the make-up of the Karachi Hatch 30 years ago.

From 1968 to 1984, a span of 14 years, the Liza Galore cocks have won a sizable number of derbies fighting predominantly the Karachi Hatch. In late 1984, I had to take time off from the rigors of derby fighting as my asthma ailment was not getting any better and attending cockfights became a no-no as far as my doctor was concerned. After a year and a half though, I was given the go signal by my doctor to attend the fights.

During that year and a half lull, I thought it best to blend my Karachi Hatch with some other Hatch family. I had also in mind some Kelso, Roundheads and Clarets. For starters, I called up my good friend, Ray Alexander, as I wanted some of his Lacy Roundheads and Griffin Clarets.

Ray informed me that he had a friend in New Mexico that was fighting Ruble cocks that were bred to some of his Claret-Roundheads. They were good at ½ Karachi-1/2 Claret-Roundhead. The ¾ Karachi Ray’s ¼ were also good. But the best were 7/8 Karachi-1/8 Claret-Roundhead. Ray Alexander saw some of them fought in the 1992 May International and he liked them a lot.

1995, we (my cousin Bomboy and I) were introduced to Larry Powell by Mac White. It turned out that Larry Powell was the same man from New Mexico that Ray Alexander said had Rubles. We invited Larry Powell to come over for the 1995 International derby. Larry informed us on the authenticity of his Rubles. The same year, we acquired 2 Ruble trios from Larry and the have been blended to my Karachi Hatch.

We have to go back a year before, in 1994. My good friends Esting Teopaco and Peping Cojuangco had with them a top American cocker named Bob Howard. The Bob Howard cocks were Murphys, Kelsos, and Hatch. Bob told me that his Hatch blood were either Mcleans or Billy Ruble Hatch. There was one particular cock in the yards of Esting Teopaco that was a broodcock from Bob that was a pure Ruble. That cock was loaned to me by Esting and I had it in my farm for six months. I named that cock “Uncle Bob”. I bred “Uncle Bob” to my pure Karachi hens.

As to date,the Karachi Hatch 30 years after is more or less bred this way. It is 60% Billy Ruble (ROLN), 15% Larry Powell, 15% Bob Howard Ruble, and 10% Ray Alexander Griffin Claret-Lacy Roundhead.

We have acquired other bloodlines from Johnny Jumper, Dan Gray, Mac White, Mike Glover and Donnie Joe Sparks. Their cocks were bred to our Karachi hens and their hens to our Karachi cocks. The 50-50 cross is what we fight in the regular Araneta circuit derbies. Somehow we feel that our Karachi Hatch, when bred to other good bloodlines, enhances the capabilities of both sides.

Johnny Jumper said to me last year, “Eddie, our friend Mike Glover wants to bring some of your Rubles back home”. That should pretty much tell you what they are today. Hey, 30 years is quite a long time!

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