This past weekend (November 5-6) we attended the GIT LGRA race meets in our own hometown, McKinney, TX. Accompanying us were old standbys (Doc, Mordi, Ken, Boo, and Deuce), some novices (Tawny and Ghitana) and some brand new kids to gauge their interest in playing running games (Walker, Enzette, Dulci, Smooches, Puddin and little Borzoi pup Robyn).
Saturday dawned bright and early. In Borzoi we had the “3 Musketeers” who have been our regular attendees for the past several meets – Doc, his nephew Mordi and Ken. Also in tow was Ghitana who had raced at the previous meet – she just wasn’t good at coming in on the bunny, instead preferring to avoid the chaos at the end and just run to the proximity of the van. After her first lure coursing trial, where one of her competitors broke his leg on the course, resulting in screaming from both man and “beast” and general chaos with people running across the field towards the incident, she was a bit put off by commotion. Today I did not recognize the red and white blur hurtling towards me right for the bunny – and she stayed with the bunny! She even placed in the points above Ken, who did not seem up to his usual ability today. Ghitana earned 1.5 points (her first!); Ken .25 and Mordi was the Turtle.
In Silkens, Tawny placed 3rd, coming in to the line in full racing form – it had finally clicked for her, and she earned her first racing points!
So then came the practices! First up was Robyn, who due to recent bouts of independence and stubbornness and a case of “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you, la la la la la!”was left on lead and just did “puppy bumps,” which she performed with abandon. Then all the Silkens we brought Saturday – Walker, Dulci, Enzette and Smooches – passed their half-track test. We were amazed! 4 for 4!! So we opted to run together the 3 that were old enough to race – all but Smooches. They killed it, with Walker passing Enzette at the last minute. We figured we should just try them together since they would all have to run together as FTEs in the morning – why not see if they would be fine doing that in an unofficial capacity.
On Sunday we were working under the threat of storms coming in. Folks were glued to their cell phones watching the weather radar. We had fewer folks in attendance and were running on a skeleton crew as well – the phrase of the day was “Let’s make this work.” After the first program of Borzoi, we had some some scratches in Borzoi (we ourselves scratched Boo) and in Silkens (Deuce), making it easier to get Borzoi down to the boxes with a reduced number in 2 of the races. I hoped Walker would get a better start in the 2nd program, as he was very late in coming out of the box. He managed to catch up fairly well despite his complacency in handing out in the box for a while. The 2nd race he was quick on the uptake and won it handily. Boy did he learn his lesson! He wasn’t going to be left behind anymore! After the 2nd program we scratched Mordi to bring it down to 2 races in Borzoi.
By this time it had started to feel like rain, and the wind picked up a bit. Folks were checking their smartphones more frequently for the weather radar, then looking up at the skies.
We wrapped up the meet, and then Jack drove the SUV down to the box straightaway to get it loaded. I had to leave to go home and feed Nox’s pups- but I was told it started to sprinkle a bit as they finished the last of the loading, and Victor got rained on a but on the way home.
I am so thrilled that we have new running Silkens, and also over the moon that Ghitana has gained her confidence and came in hard on the bunny in every race, and boy is she showing some speed! I think Walker will make a fabulous racer as well. Sadly, Enzette acted out in her last race, so she’s done. So now we are contemplating placing her, although it will be hard as she’s quite affectionate. But we have her sister Gilda here, who has better behavior at running events.
Looking forward to the next racing event!
