2015 LGRA Breed Rankings

LGRA has posted the 2015 year-end breed rankings. I always have a hard time keeping track of the beginning and end of the LGRA racing season, because in my head, racing "season" starts in the fall and ends in the spring, since the summer months are really too warm for any kind of running sport.

Anyway, congratulations to all the finalists, especially our #1 dog who is also our rookie of the year at age 7 years! We're all looking forward to more racing in northern California, starting in March.

#1: Yumi

Acélváros Yumi

#2: Pirate

CH Stouthearted Chocolate Soldier CC CM GRC JD

#3: Rietsu

Sárréti-Portyázó Boróka

#4: Luna
GRCH Betcha-Katcha Ojeda GRC

2015 NAMAA Nationals

I apologize for the tardiness of this post. We had our third annual NAMAA Specialty back in October (Halloween weekend), and it was a blast. I'm pretty sure 2015 saw the largest gathering of MAs in North America and it was a real treat to get all the dogs together and enjoy each other's company.

Our traditional group photo. From left: Luna, Dude, Gator, Patti, Gypsy, Jussi, Gil, Rietsu, Fecni, and Yumi

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Saturday was punctuated with a special Hungarian lunch prepared by Ruthye and the Yates'. We enjoyed home made goulash with a side of spaetzle and sour cream, and a hearty bean soup with warm dinner rolls for dipping. Delicious!

We had three hounds present for whom this was their very first time in the show ring, and all three did great. Young Jussi was the only puppy, but showed like a champ.

Jussi getting the go-over

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Our Saturday show was judged by Audrey Sutton, who selected Patti as her Best of Breed Winner, and Yumi as her Best of Opposite Sex Winner.

Patti, BOB under Judge Audrey Sutton

Photo by Iola Stetson

Yumi, BOS under Judge Audrey Sutton

Photo by Iola Stetson

Saturday was also noteworthy for it's warm and sunny weather, which made for good show conditions but less than ideal running conditions. The drought had left the field quite dry and hard, and after our preliminary lure coursing runs several of the dogs came off with minor injuries. So we decided to call the trial on prelim scores and cancelled the LGRA meet for the following day.

Luna burning rubber

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Gypsy running in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Dude running a close second in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

We had four dogs running in the Open Stake, and three dogs running in Singles. The scores were close on all counts, but Gil emerged victorious as the winner of the Open Stake and Rietsu as the winner of the Singles Stake.

 

Gil winning BOB and Rietsu winning 1st in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Our Sunday show was judged by Arlene Grimes, who selected Pi as her Best of Breed Winner, and Patti as her Best of Opposite Sex Winner. Although we had cancelled the LGRA meet, we were relieved to be met with steady rainfall throughout the day, which proved to be the beginning of the end of our drought.

Pi, BOB under Judge Arlene Grimes

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Fecni, winning Best Veteran under Judge Arlene Grimes

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Since this event, California has seen record amounts of rain and snowfall all across the state. The landscape is green again, giving us much to look forward to this coming spring. Hopefully, by October of this year we will have much better field conditions for our next NAMAA Nationals.

Gator running hard

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

September Racing was HOT (Literally)

Gil in red, Luna in white, Pi in green, and Gator in blue

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Every year I look forward to the fall, because it's supposed to be the beginning of cooler weather and fun holidays. But all too often in California, September is just an extension of summer, and the weather this past weekend was no exception. Saturday's temperatures reached into the 90's, and on Sunday we only saw a bit of relief with temps in the mid 80's.

Dude, showing some gray hairs but still loves to run

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

It was so hot on Saturday that we decided to scratch all our hounds after the first program of racing. In all we had 4 running in the LGRA meet, and 2 running in Singles. The finish for the one and only MA LGRA race was Pi, Gator, Gil, and Luna. The older hounds are definitely showing their age, but they still try hard. In Singles, Dude ran a time of 14.469 seconds, and Yumi ran 12.904 which was actually faster than Pi's run (but only by a fraction of a second).

Yumi puttin' on the speed

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

I was so proud of Yumi, this being his first time behind a lure (that I know of). He was so excited watching the other dogs run and when it was finally his turn to go, he had the fastest time of the day. As keen as he was while running, he didn't pound on the lure once it stopped, so I was a little concerned about how focused he would be if he ran with other dogs. So I made the decision to keep him in Singles for the rest of the weekend.

Walking the lure back

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

On Sunday, Rietsu joined us in lieu of Gator, Luna, and Dude. She has really found her fifth gear now that she's matured, but unfortunately she thought it would be more fun to play with Pi during the race than to actually chase the lure. So, it looks like she will be joining Yumi and Dude in Singles until she learns how to behave herself. Yumi ran 2 singles runs and improved his times from Saturday. His first run was 12.310 and his second run was 12.211! If I can get him qualified for LGRA there should be some very interesting races.

Rietsu eye-balling her boyfriend, Pi

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Although there were no actual injuries from racing, Gilly's old back injury was hurting him on Sunday so I scratched him after Program 1. Pi was a little foot sore for a couple of days after the meet, but he is back to normal now. Hopefully by the time Nationals rolls around we will have gotten more rain and the ground will be softer.

They are so cute together!

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

2014 LGRA Breed Standings

LGRA has posted breed and all breed rankings for the year 2014, and here are the final Magyar Agar breed standings:

#1: Pirate

CH Stouthearted Chocolate Soldier CC CM JD

#2: Gil

GRCH Aranyagi Utonallo Fenseg CC CM GRC JOR

#3: Gator

Betcha-Katcha Omlin GRC

#4: Luna

GRCH Betcha-Katcha Ojeda GRC 

NAMAA Nationals 2014: LGRA Racing

 Pi with his rosette, Photo by Iola Stetson

I am so behind on making posts to this blog, so I will make this last installment of my 2014 Nationals coverage as brief as possible.

 Patti, Photo by Gary Claggett

The LGRA specialty is always held the second day of the specialty, and this year we had a total entry of four. After taking a pretty bad fall at the previous day's ASFA trial, Gilly was a little bit gimpy the next day so I decided not to run him in the race meet.

 Luna and Gator, Photo by Gary Claggett

The convenient part about having such a small entry of just four dogs is that we only have one race per program, which we can get done quickly so we can spend the rest of our time helping the Silken folks run their dogs.

 Pi on his way to a race meet victory

Photo by Gary Claggett

At the end of the day, Pi was the High Score Hound, however I'm almost certain that had Gator not been tired from running in the ASFA trial he would have handed Pi his ass. I scratched Pi from the ASFA trial after prelims so he would be fresher for the race meet, and it certainly paid off.

Luna, Gator, and Pi

Photo by Gary Claggett

In between the race programs, we did a couple of practice runs with Rietsu and her kennel-mate Saluki, Bukra. In the past, Rietsu has shown only a little bit of interest in a squawker, so we hoped that running with another experienced dog would help encourage her to run, and it did! We look forward to continuing her training, and hopefully she'll be ready to race by springtime.

Rietsu following Bukra down the track

Photo by Iola Stetson

And so concludes my reporting of the second annual NAMAA National Specialty. It was an exhausting two days, but we can't wait for next year! Unfortunately, Jairi and Rietsu had to go home before we took our customary group shot, but we'll make sure she's in it next year!

Tom with Gator, Me with Pi and Gil, Olivia with Patti, Kyle with Luna and Dude, and Rita with Holly the Ridgeback

Photo by Iola Stetson

NAMMA Nationals 2014: Conformation, Day 2

 Patti: BOB, Pi: BOS

Photo by Iola Stetson

Our second day of conformation was much drier and sunnier, thank goodness! Our judge that day was Marcella Zobel, a local Borzoi and Whippet breeder.

Gator, Photo by Iola Stetson

As had happened the previous day, our dogs were highly distracted by the race track being setup not far from the show ring. This made things a tad challenging for us, but the judge saw past our imperfect handling and seemed charmed by the happy Agar spirit :-)

Rietsu holding her stack

Photo by Iola Stetson

Dude, unfortunately, had to be scratched from the show because he sustained a minor toe injury during the field trial and had a noticeable limp. Gil was also a bit stiff after his fall during the trial, but he managed to show decently nonetheless.

Gil, looking good at the trot

Photo by Iola Stetson

As it turned out, the results of the show were not much different than from the day prior. Patti and Pi both took top honors again, but decided to switch their BOB and BOS awards!

Pi on the move

Photo by Iola Stetson

Patti on the move

Photo by Iola Stetson

I was so proud of Patti; she has never showed more beautifully than she did that day. She offered me amazing free stacks and gaited perfectly. 

Luna, Photo by Iola Stetson

Stay tuned for the last installment in this series ...

NAMAA Nationals 2014: ASFA Trial

Immediately following the conformation show in the morning, we moved on to the fun stuff: RUNNING SPORTS.

 Pi, running in Singles

Photo by Gary Claggett

The footing at Kirigin Cellars is always exceptionally good, but the drizzle we had had during the show in the morning made some parts of the field a little slippery, which caused more than one dog to take a nasty spill. Our total entry for the field trial was 4 in the Limited stake (Gil, Gator, Luna, and Patti) and 2 in the Singles stake (Dude, and Pi), making this the largest entry of Magyar Agars at an American lure coursing trial to date.

 Gil on the lure

Photo by Gary Claggett

Our judge was Tom Golcher who traveled all the way from Colorado. In prelims it was boys versus girls with Gil and Gator running in course one and Luna and Patti running in course two. Gil and Gator were pretty evenly matched on the run up until the first turn where there was a particularly slippery patch of grass. Gil attempted to turn right and fell, HARD, on his shoulder and tumbled a couple of times over. He was disoriented when he got up, but re-sighted on the lure and kept on running. My heart was in my mouth for the rest of the course, and upon completion I gave him a good look-over. He did not present with any lameness at all, to my relief, so I figured he was good to go for the finals.

 Patti, Photo by Gary Claggett

As luck would have it, Patti had also drawn the yellow blanket and took a tumble in the exact same spot on the first turn of the course. She did not fall nearly as hard as Gil did, and also recovered well, but could not make up the ground necessary to win her course.

Dude in Singles, Photo by Gary Claggett

Next up were the singles. Dude ran first and had a marvelous run; his very first time running in an official trial. It must have been just my bad luck that day, because Pi also fell during his run at the very same first corner. Nevertheless, he managed to earn the highest score of all dogs running in the prelim round, but I decided to scratch him from finals anyway to make sure he would be good to run in the LGRA meet the following day.

 Patti and Gil in slips

Photo by Ann-Marie Holmes

In finals it was one family versus the other, with Gil and Patti drawing the first course together and Luna and Gator drawing the second course with each other. With the course plan reversed for finals there were no more spills to be had (thank goodness!), and both runs were very evenly matched.

Luna and Gator in finals

Photo by Gary Claggett

Patti and Luna ended up tying for 3rd and 4th overall, but not wanting to take my chances on another fall I decided to forfeit the win to Luna. So, the final placements for the Limited Stake were (1/BOB) Gator, (2) Gil, (3) Luna, and (4) Patti. And, of course, Dude was the high scoring hound in the Singles Stake.

 Gator, Best of Breed, with Judge Tom Golcher

Photo by Gary Claggett

Even Rietsu got a chance to do a practice run, which she thoroughly enjoyed! She seemed to like the plastic baggies much more than the furry lures she's seen before. Perhaps she learned that from Hattie ...

Rietsu on the lure

Photo by Gary Claggett

NAMAA Nationals 2014: Conformation, Day 1

 Pi: Best of Breed, Patti: Best of Opposite

Photo by Iola Stetson

Our little contingent of American Agars held our second annual NAMAA National Specialty on the weekend of October 25th/26th at the beautiful Kirigin Cellars winery in Gilroy. The local Silken Windhound club has been extremely generous in allowing us to "piggy-back" off of their regional specialty, and we could not be more grateful!

Gator, in the Open Class

Photo by Iola Stetson

The specialty takes place over two days with one conformation show each day, followed by an ASFA trial on Saturday afternoon and a LGRA meet on Sunday afternoon. I figured it would be best to organize my report of the entire event by separating my posts into four separate categories. So, for this installment I will be reporting on the conformation show results for Saturday.

 Dude, in the Open Class

Photo by Iola Stetson

Fortunately for the state of California, but unfortunately for us, we had a pretty serious episode of rain on Saturday morning. As you may or may not know, California has been going through one of the worst droughts in history, so as unpleasant as it was for us to show the dogs in the rain, we very much needed it!

Gil, from the Open Class

Photo by Iola Stetson

Our judge for Saturday was Mr. Dennis Blickenstaff of Cabaret Beagles. Dennis is a seasoned UKC judge and has judged our dogs several times before, so he was no stranger to our breed, and having a friendly and familiar face at a show is always a welcome comfort. Nevertheless, the entire weekend was characterized by a bittersweet atmosphere, due entirely to the fact that Pesh is no longer with us. While her absence was notable, we still had a good overall entry size of seven for our Saturday show, including our newest import, Rietsu, and Dude the "golden boy."

 Pi, showing from the BBE Class

Photo by Iola Stetson

Just prior to the Agars entering the ring, the field committee for the lure coursing trial had been laying out the lure course for the afternoon, and our dogs eagerly took quick notice. As such, it was a bit of a challenge to run them around the ring along with the wet turf, but we managed, and a good time was had by all.

 Rietsu, showing from the 10-12 Puppy Class

Photo by Iola Stetson

Pi and Patti were shown in the Bred-by-Exhibitor class, while the other adults all showed in Open. Rietsu showed from the 10-12 Puppy class and did very well considering this was her first show ever! Pi defeated Gil for Winners Dog, and sister Patti defeated Luna and Rietsu for Winners Bitch. At that point it was all a win for me, and I could not have been prouder. Pi edged out his little sister for Best of Breed, but it really could have gone either way. Rietsu was Reserve Winners Bitch, and Gil was Reserve Winners Dog.

 Luna and Patti, competing for Winners Bitch

Photo by Iola Stetson

Many thanks to Dennis for judging, to Iola Stetson for the fabulous photos, and to Kyle and Rita Yates for the beautiful metal art trophies!

Patti, showing from the BBE Class

Photo by Iola Stetson

P.S. Dude and Luna entered the Halloween costume contest which was held right before the ASFA trial and they were awarded "Best Couple"!