It was a HOT weekend, but we had a great time at the first Beezer Bonanza. We had a nice entry of 31 total Ibizans, and some amazing prizes. My guys had a few big perks, with the biggest being Dean getting a second place placement! Dean is a hot/cold runner and you never know if he's going to give you a fantastic course or a creative one. It was really exciting to have him not only have two great runs, but do well in the run off as well. Even having him tied for first place in great company was a thrill. Fleura also had a great event - winning BOB Saturday for more LCX points and also hitting 30 mph twice in FCATs. The babies also had their first adventure at lure coursing!
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We traveled to TN for our last event before Evie has her babies, and Fleura ran hard as usual. She was BOB Sunday, and then ran off with the Pharaoh Hound, Saluki, Whippet, Ridgeback and Ibizan for Best in Field, and walked away with her sixth fancy ribbon. This ultimately gave her the necessary 40 points to finish her ASFA Field Championship. We also enjoyed meeting her sister, Fera, who is sweet as can be.
Fleura ran great this weekend at LGRA in TN. She won both meets and picked up four more points toward her GRC title, and finished her SSR title. Very proud of my girl!
Fleura had wonderful runs at the 25th running of the Fullerton Cup. She was BOB, after certifying her younger (second?) cousin, with some really amazing runs, and went on to run Best in Field with the Ibizan, Pharaoh Hound and Whippet. She ran off with the Whippet, who had an excellent run, and hung in there with him throughout the course and ultimately won the Fullerton Cup! This has been one of my favorite events to run every year, so it was very special for her to win it. Very proud of my "wee beastie"! This is her fifth Best in Field.
This was an amazing event! It was so well put together and while we didn't end up with many Ibizans this time, we had an amazing Afghan entry of 15 of very likely the fastest Afghans in the United States. Dean won both meets and Niko actually pulled off a second place in LGRA, in addition to his High Scoring Veteran at age 8. Fleura had some awesome races and really had to earn her third place in LGRA - there were a couple races where she was defeated by a muzzle. She pulled a couple bad breaks to the outside in NOTRA, but still had some really brilliant moments in her second and third race. If she learns to stay on the rail, I think she could be a contender.
It was really great to meet some of the west coast Afghans - they are all extended family and some brilliant runners. I'm really proud of how my girl hung in there. We lucked out with amazing weather this year for Memorial Day weekend, and it was unseasonably cool and breezy. I was unable to attend the first day of the trial due to a family event, but we made the most of our one day. The Beezers had an absolute blast, with all three of mine catching the lure during one of their runs and having a good time with it. Aiden made absolute field confetti of it and Evie came happily recalling back with a bag over her head and around her neck, so it was sailing behind her like a cape. She was very pleased with herself. She put in some strong runs today and won FCh, earning her first LCM points, but couldn't quite pull through in BOB. She had some great corners, but Ayla had her on speed. They had to restart after Evie grabbed the lure and ran around in her special bunny cape, and she just got too wild. Dean was second also for some points and Aiden tied for 4/NBQ, but sadly lost the coin flip.
Fleura ran great and was her usual hardcore self, but the thing that I was most proud of was that she was so unphased by an incident that occurred on the field that could have ruined some dogs. She recovered immediately and just kept running, with no change in her positive attitude. I really admire those aspects of her temperament so much. She ultimately ended up with Best in Field, running with the Ibizan, Whippet, Pharaoh and Basenji, and there were some really great runs from the Ibizan and Whippet especially. I'm very proud of her! It was a super fun weekend, even with Sunday having pouring rain all day long. I got to hang out with my friends Karen, Kayla and Hiland, and the dogs all had a blast running together. There were some particularly stand out moments, like Azula jumping straight over Tigger, and poor Dean taking a faceplant at top speed. Overall, my Beezers did not have the greatest runs on this field, but I did come to the conclusion that Dean runs better muzzled. This field has a lot of visual barriers on all sides, and the more experienced dogs were definitely showing that they knew where the "bunny" wasn't going to go. With the muzzle on, Dean was just distracted enough by it to not think so hard about things and he ended up second place on Sunday for a point. We all stayed over at Kayla's house on Saturday night, which was a lot of fun and a nice change from car camping. The dogs loved it, and Azula was a gracious hostess, sharing her home with six other dogs (along with her semi-permanent resident, Evie).
Fleura had a great weekend, winning BOB both days for another 10 LCX points, and winning her third Best In Field on Saturday! We had a near oops, as she had a really beautiful run in prelims on Sunday (in the pouring rain - oof) and when I checked scores she was much lower than I expected her to be, as compared with other runs of the day. Obviously, I am not a judge, but I have been lure coursing long enough now that I usually feel like I have a decent idea of where my dogs will be in the scores. I didn't want to make a stir about it though, just because it felt out of line. Luckily, her breeder (who is a judge and whose dogs were the majority of her competition) came up and questioned it himself. He had seen the scores and then asked the judge who his prelim winner was, and the judge had replied "the little naked bitch in the third course", which is a pretty hilarious and accurate description of Fleura. Eddie had them recheck scores and, sure enough, there were a few miscalculations and Fleura's score went up a couple points to be the high score for prelims. It was a close call with her half-brother, Lucius, and she narrowly beat him by a point for BOB. In Best in Field on Saturday, she ran off with Azula the Ibizan (who won BIF on Sunday), and with a Pharaoh Hound and a Whippet. There were some absolutely beautiful runs, and Fleura and Azula were very well-matched especially. The Whippet had a nearly flawless run, but I believe Fleura bumped ahead just because she ran with a dog who matched her so well, and she was just that little bit faster this day. I was very proud of the squirt. She's really exactly the performance hound I hoped for. I got the exciting news today that I achieved my goal for Dean this year, and he was the #1 Ibizan Hound in both LGRA and NOTRA, which makes him the #1 Racing Ibizan overall this year. What's more is that he is the #9 All-Breed LGRA dog, which is really exciting. I didn't even think of all-breed rankings when I decided to attend more racing in 2020. Dean finished the year almost undefeated in LGRA, with the exception of one race where he got intimidated by something and hung back. I'm proud of Aiden for hanging in there as well, as almost a veteran and still running strong. We will continue to attend as many racing events as we can in 2021.
NOTRA:
Fleura also ended the year #1 in LGRA for Afghans. I had a lot to be proud of this weekend! Fleura was BOB the first day and 3rd place (1 point behind the tied 1-2 run, one judge) the second, adding on 7 more LCX points. Niko was second place the first day, having tied with his much younger nephew and then won the coin toss, so he added another LCX point as well. Saturday wrapped up just before dark with a BIF between Fleura, the Pharaoh Hound, the Ibizan and the Saluki. All of them were really nice runners, and I was extra proud when Fleura was announced Best in Field. She received some very kind comments from her judge as well.
I had a wonderful time with my coursing community, and was really happy to have a new Afghan person come hang out, as well as a friend with a Deerhound. It's always great fun getting new people started in the sport, and I think everyone had a good time. We had another great weekend with a split of LGRA and NOTRA. Good friends and nice, slightly too warm weather, and the usual excitement of racing. Dean picked up some more points toward his SGRC by winning the LGRA meet, and Aiden squeaked into third for another half point. He's chipping away at that title. Fleura ran with her sister, Frielle, and won the LGRA meet. Frielle won the NOTRA meet.
In NOTRA, Dean won his first two races, but backed off suddenly in the final high point race for some unknown reason. He seemed reluctant to pass the two wild girls ahead of him. Evie ended up winning second in the high point race -- she was majorly supercharged and fresh from not running LGRA the day before. Unfortunately, she was just out of the points, but I was proud of her. |
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