At Westminster Kennel Club on Tuesday February 16, 2016
It came about as a joint effort with myself, Karen Staudt-Cartabona, Majenkir Borzoi, and Mai Ozeki Hirai, Belisarius Kennels, that produced this outstanding borzoi bitch “Lucy”. She is our “Mikhailya’s” grand-daughter, sired by her puppy, “Magnus, from her sole litter in December 2008. Thank you, Judge Richard Meen, for seeing the special qualities of this lovely borzoi.
Sometimes, life provides you with a joy so profound that your shock can only be imagined. Such it was on Monday, February 15, 2016, watching the borzoi being judged at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show at Pier 92, and seeing “Lucy”, a grand-daughter of our Blyss Mikhailya being selected as Best of Breed! We knew then she would represent the Hound in the Hound Group that evening.
That evening, when the Groups were being judged, “Lucy” again surprised us by going Group 1, meaning she was eligible for being the Best of Show Class on Tuesday night.
For borzoi breeders throughout the United States and the world, a thrill ran through our very beings, a thrill of special joy and pride from the possibility that a borzoi – our borzoi – had a chance at the coveted Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Best in Show! Suddenly, “competition” melted, and anyone who ever knew or bred a borzoi was on her side to achieve that coveted win. As for me, all of this was overwhelming, yet not so. For it was I who lived with and knew the grand-dam of this bitch every day, the inimical Mikhailya. I saw the possibility of this win as a special gift through her wonderful genes to her grand-daughter that night. I remembered all of the attributes about Mikhailya that I believed made her a great foundation bitch, a “once in a lifetime dog”, “the best”, and “special” and “dear”. Only our humble circumstances held her back. However, by Karen Staudt-Cartabona selling her son, CH Majenkir O’Blyss Int Jap Magnus, to Belisarius Kennels in Japan, Mikhailya’s greatness in which I believed so much could be expressed through her offspring.
On behalf of my late husband and myself, we are so proud of “Lucy” and the great breeding and training that went into her to make her the Reserve Best in Show Dog at Westminster KC Dog Show this year (2016).