January 9 Mixed Stake

At the ASA Mixed hunt today, Bravo was in the last of three preliminary runs. He drew a borzoi from Rhode Island (those are some fast dogs that Michael Kurt brought with him!) and an Irish Wolfhound. After being on the line for multiple hours, their course finally went off. Bravo did well in a course that went for about one-half to three-quarters of a mile. When he came back in, I watered him and did all of the other post-course stuff that I usually do. Then I, as field clerk, met with Judge Julia to go over prelim scores.

After reporting the preliminary scores to the group, we waited about ten more minutes for Bravo to recover a bit. I was satisfied that he had cooled down enough and that he was ready to go, except for having a full belly of water. With it being already past 3:00pm–and our needing one more jack–we had better get marching right away, so I brought Bravo on the line for finals with two of George’s greyhounds. I decided that I would not slip Bravo until about ten more minutes passed, or until he urinated once (that usually happens within thirty minutes of filling him with lots of water, so I thought it a good amount of time.)

Of course, after this long day of nine miles’ hiking, a jack came up in the first five minutes of the final. I held on to Bravo for a couple of seconds past the “Tally-Ho,” then decided to let him go once the greyhounds were well off the line; after all, no harm should come in just a straight run following two fast greys and a strong jack.

Well, the initial curve that the jackrabbit chose to follow took him right into Bravo’s line of sight and let the greyhounds overshoot slightly, so the big white whippet got involved right away in the course, keeping up turn-for-turn with the greyhounds. George’s Honey Rose dominated the course, but Bravo and George’s Lionheart were both right behind for the whole two-and-a-half minute course. My thought during the entire run was, “Oh, please don’t let his stomach spin out of its right orientation!”

Well, my fears proved unfounded. He got a close third-place in that course and was able to hold on to second place in the hunt. His belly is fine, and now he is calling me names for giving those other two a head start.
—
Michael