Memorial Day Weekend: NOTRA

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

The second day of RCRA's Memorial Day weekend race meets is dedicated to NOTRA. It's been a really long time since I've run my dogs on the oval, and every time I attend an oval meet I wonder why I've been keeping myself, and them, from this awesome sport!

After the LGRA meet the previous day, Gilly was pretty tired, and a little bit sore, so I decided to leave him home and just take the other two boys, plus Hattie Greyhound. Looking back now, it was a good idea to leave him behind, even if he had been feeling up to it, just because of the nature of oval races. Oval racing poses risks that sprint racing does not, because you have several dogs running as fast as they can and turning around a corner at high speed. Traffic is common on the first bend, and if a dog is not very experienced it can be difficult and dangerous for them to navigate around the other dogs, and if they are not accustomed to turning they often run wide. Since Pi and Yumi had never run NOTRA before, it was safer for me to keep the entry low, so as to reduce traffic and risk of injury until they got the hang of it.

Breaking from the boxes

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

Boxing the boys was easier this time around than it had been the day before, and Yumi was breaking a lot better, although still a bit late. Nevertheless, Yumi ran fantastically. Oval racing is very different from sprint racing in that a dog does not necessarily have to be the fastest in order to win. Many dogs who do not have a prayer of winning a sprint racing meet find themselves victorious on the oval if they have that special combination of speed and the unique and seemingly inborn talent to run the track strategically.

Yumi hits the rail from the outside box

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

The best oval dogs are the dogs that know how to move towards the inside rail and stay there for the duration of the race, even when they have the disadvantage of drawing an outside box. In my limited experience, this is not something that can be trained into the dog; they either do it or they don't.

Yumi, NOTRA meet winner

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

A good rail dog is a sight to behold, and Yumi certainly has that quality. Twice, he drew the outside box, and both times he hit that rail and ran with it. He won two out of the three programs, which means he won the meet and took home his first ORC point. The only race he lost was the last program, where he was either really tired or perhaps a little bit cocky, which allowed Pi to surge past him at the last moment on the backstretch.

Yumi says, "You won't beat me again young whippersnapper!"

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

Overall it was a great day, and I was super proud of all of my dogs. I promise to make a greater effort to attend more NOTRA meets from now on! To close, here's a video of the very last program where Pi managed to pull off a win:

Memorial Day Weekend: LGRA

My boys: Pi, Gil, and Yumi

Every year, RCRA hosts race meets over Memorial Day Weekend. I have not attended in several years, for various reasons, but this year we promised that we would go and support the club. I was getting a little worried as the date drew closer, because the weather reports were indicating it to be a hot weekend. In situations like this, I am always happy to pull my dogs out of competition if I think it's getting too warm. So, I packed up plenty of water, a small kiddie pool, and some sponges in case I needed to cool them down.

Thankfully, the venue we were running at had plenty of shade, and it was surprisingly cool if you weren't standing in direct sunlight. Combine that with a gentle breeze and the ambient temperature throughout the day wasn't too bad.

I decided to enter all three boys; Gil, Pi, and Yumi. Gilly had an unfortunate string of bad luck starting in October of last year, so he has been lame on his left front every now and again. I anticipated him coming up lame either right before the meet, or after the first program, but he surprised me and was sound all day.

One thing I like about running with RCRA is that they are one of the few clubs that have starting boxes big enough to accommodate the MAs. The only problem on this particular occasion was that only Gil has had any serious box training. Nevertheless, I figured if the other two were going to learn, it was now or never.

Below is a slow motion video of the beginning of one of their races:



Both boys put up a pretty good struggle when it came time to box them, but we muscled through it and they were noticeably better as the day went on. Pi's break got a lot better too, although not as good as Gil's. Yumi is either a slower learner, or he's just stubborn (I think probably the latter), so his breaking skills may take more time to come around. His slow exit from the boxes cost him a second place finish in the first program, but he got it together well enough by the end of the meet to finish second overall behind Pi. One more GRC point down, 7 more to go!

I'll report on the NOTRA meet in a separate post to come. Stay tuned ...

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

Season Opening

It's been a hot October so far, but the boys and I have been itching to course some hares. We got lucky and found two; Gil and Pi got to run one, and Blackfoot the Dachshund got to run the other. It was already warm by 9:30, so we decided to head home. Hopefully the weather will cool down considerably in the coming weeks.

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

Long-Awaited Update

I am so sorry to my readers (if there are any, lol) for not keeping this blog up to date lately. A LOT of crazy things have happened since the last time I wrote, and as a result I lost the motivation (and time) to keep up. But, things have settled down somewhat now and I'm feeling the itch to blog again.

I don't want to leave anything out, but at the same time I don't want to write several posts for each individual event, so I think it's best if I just give one big brief summary of everything that's happened since last winter.

Racing: The two big announcements are that Pi finished his GRC in March, and Rietsu earned her first GRC points by going High Score at her first ever race meet! We can't wait to see how she does as she gets older and more experienced.

Photos by Nolan Cromwell

Lure Coursing: Unfortunately we don't get around to doing much lure coursing, but we did have two trial weekends back in March and May with the RACE AOK9 program. In March, Rietsu ran for her certification and passed with flying colors, allowing her to enter the trials in May. The first day of the May trials, we had three MAs and one Saluki running in a stake. The scores were very close in the prelim runs, but I don't like doing run-offs with my dogs so I forfeited. That left the final results for the day being Rietsu in 1st, Bukra in 2nd, Pi in 3rd, and Gil in 4th. Gil was a little lame after the first day so I scratched him from Sunday's trial. Sunday we had four MAs and one Saluki in the same stake. Again, the runs were very competitive and close. Final placements for the day were Bukra in 1st, Pi in 2nd, Rietsu in 3rd, Gator in 4th, and Patti was NBQ.

 Photos by Ruthye Cole

Conformation: At the end of March, Rietsu competed in a UKC show down in Fresno. With no other sighthound competition we weren't expecting much, but she thrilled us all with an awesome Best in Show win under Judge Gary Andersen! That gives her one competition win towards her UKC Conformation Championship.

 Photo by Jairi Rai

Dock Diving: Pi has competed in a few dock diving events this year, but hasn't really done anything noteworthy, lol. Still, he enjoys it and when temperatures get really high it's one of the few dog sports we can partake in.

Well, I think that's mostly it (except for one other thing which I will make a separate post for). I promise to make a concerted effort to keep the blog up to date, especially as we head into the fall and winter months when sighthound sports really get going.

Rietsu's Coursing Debut

I'm going to jump out of chronological order, just for a minute, since I'm so behind on posts. I'm just so excited and pleased with Rietsu's first competitive coursing results that I had to share sooner rather than later.

Photo by Jairi Rai

So, the CRA (California Rarebreed Association) had its second-to-last coursing meeting of the 2014/2015 season this past Sunday (1/18). The field that we used for this hunt had recently been drained of several feet of water that had been brought in following a big rain storm earlier this season. As such, the ground was still quite damp and muddy, but we managed to walk through it, and clearly some of the hare population had moved back in.

Waiting for the fog to lift

The biggest hang-up we had was the fog. We set roll call for 7am, but the fog was so thick we weren't able to enter the field until almost noon, and even then the visibility was bad. Still, we had to get going at some point or we wouldn't have any chance of getting done.

We had a decent sized entry for the day; 5 Silken Windhounds, 4 Magyar Agars, 1 Afghan Hound, and 1 Pharaoh Hound. Gil, Pi and Patti drew the last course all together, and Rietsu drew the third course along with the Afghan and the Pharaoh.

Photo by Jairi Rai

We got the first hare up pretty quickly upon entering the field, and the three Silkens that were running it had a nice decent-length course. We got a second hare up pretty quickly after the first, but it jumped from behind us and the dogs could not get sighted on it. Nevertheless, it was very encouraging to get so many hares up so quickly given that we got such a late start.

Photo by Jairi Rai

We finally got a third hare up for the second prelim course, but the rabbit jumped right at the base of the levee and immediately went up, down, and under a fence. Not much of a course, but enough for us to move on. At that point it was Rietsu's turn, and we suddenly had a hard time finding hares.

In slips and ready to go!

We had decided to cross from one side of the field to the other when we got the fourth hare up. It was a long call and the dogs became unsighted almost immediately, but to their great luck they popped another hare and took off after it! I could not see most of the course, but Rietsu was right up where the action was and running like she had been doing it her whole life. They ran for quite a ways, but she found her way back to the gallery without a hitch, and happy as a clam!

Rietsu after her run

She was tired!

As it turns out, that's where the excitement for the day ended. We put the last course up, and walked for hours without even seeing another hare. With the weather being so foggy, the day was getting darker at a much faster pace, and in the interest of finishing the hunt I decided to scratch my three and call it a day.

It was definitely disappointing that Gil/Pi/Patti didn't get to run, but Rietsu ended up with a 4th place overall, which definitely made up for it! So far, every one of our American Magyar Agars has earned points and placements at their very first hunts. We can't wait to run again next weekend!

A Double Pi Day

Pi, Patti, and Hattie in the gallery

Photo by Herb Wells

So, back in November, during Thanksgiving weekend, I took Pi, Patti, and Hattie down south for a weekend of coursing. Saturday was a CGCA Greyhound breed hunt for Hattie, and Sunday was the CGCA mixed hunt for the two Agars.

Saturday's Greyhound hunt was very productive. We had a hard time finding the first couple of rabbits, but then we hit the jackrabbit pocket and were popping more than one at a time. It was a warm, sunny day, and we finished on finals in the early afternoon. Hattie placed 5th overall, and the Agar twins had a good time working the gallery for us.

Hattie with her 5th Place medallion

The next day, the weather got much cooler with a lot of cloud cover. Our stake was sent to a field which I personally dislike hunting in, because it tends to be unproductive whenever I go there. But, I remained hopeful, and with the weather being on the cool side I was happy.

Jairi walking Chudak the Borzoi, Bukra, and Rietsu

She was not happy about the weather, lol

There were five prelim courses; Pi drew course three, and Patti drew course five. To my great surprise, we started finding rabbits almost immediately upon entering the field, and got one up about every hour.

Pi's rabbit came up on his side, the far right, and bolted through a patch of open where he could see it very clearly. He ran with two Salukis, including Rietsu's kennel-mate Bukra. I could not see most of the course, but Pi led for as long as I could see him and put at least one turn and a few wrenches on it before he got out of sight. He came back to the gallery, tired but very happy.

Pi hanging out with Glenn, Bukra, and Hattie

We got the fourth course off shortly after, but after that our luck completely dried up. We walked for several hours without seeing another rabbit before we decided to move to another field. It was getting dark, and Patti was getting frustrated being on-line for so long.

We packed up as quickly as possible and headed to another field nearby. We got one rabbit up as soon as we arrived, but it was so hidden by the surrounding bushes that neither dog was sighted. We walked a little ways further and finally got the last rabbit we needed. Patti had no trouble getting sighted, but she took a misstep and tripped a little bit, which effectively kept her out of the course. Oh well. It was very anti-climactic, but it was all we needed to finish on prelims.

Pi and his 2nd Place ribbon

After all the scores were added up, the two top placing dogs in the hunt were Pi the Saluki (1st), and Baby Pi (2nd)! I was very surprised that Pi did so well, but it really made up for the disappointment of having Patti get such a crappy run.