Wasabi and Bourbon are flavor of the year in US top dog show
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The flavor of the year at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show: Wasabi. A Pekingese named Wasabi won best in show this month, notching the fifth-ever win for the unmistakable toy breed. A whippet named Bourbon repeated as runner-up.
Waddling through a small-but-mighty turn in the ring, Wasabi nabbed US dogdom鈥檚 most prestigious prize after winning the big American Kennel Club National Championship in 2019.
鈥淗e has showmanship. He fits the breed standard. He has that little extra something, that sparkle, that sets a dog apart,鈥 said Wasabi鈥檚 handler, breeder and co-owner, David Fitzpatrick.
Show judge Patricia Trotter said simply: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 not to like about this dog? He stood there as though he was a lion.鈥
Fitzpatrick, of East Berlin, Pennsylvania, guided the Peke鈥檚 grandfather Malachy to the Westminster title in 2012. Still, he said, 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 always think lightning is going to strike twice.鈥
How will Wasabi celebrate?
鈥淗e can have a filet mignon. And I鈥檒l have Champagne,鈥 Fitzpatrick said with a laugh.
The 3-year-old Pekingese, meanwhile, was 鈥減retty nonchalant about the whole thing,鈥 his handler said. Indeed, Wasabi laid down on the dais, occasionally looking up as if to see what the fuss was all about, as Fitzpatrick spoke before a cluster of reporters and cameras.
It was a poignant win that came after one of his co-owners, archeologist Iris Love, died last year of COVID-19.
Besides Fitzpatrick, the dog is also co-owned by Sandra Middlebrooks and Peggy Steinman.
Wasabi the name derives from his mother, Sushi 鈥 came out on top of a finalist pack that also included Mathew the French bulldog, Connor the old English sheepdog, Jade the German shorthaired pointer, Striker the Samoyed, and a West Highland white terrier named Boy. Altogether, 2,500 champion dogs entered the show.
It underwent big changes this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, moving out of New York City for the first time since the show鈥檚 1877 founding. This year鈥檚 show was held outdoors at an estate in suburban Tarrytown, about 40 kilometers north of where the top ribbon is usually presented at Madison Square Garden, and it happened in June instead of February.
In a sign of the pandemic times, some handlers wore masks 鈥 although vaccinated people were allowed to go without 鈥 and the show was closed to the public.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a miracle that they even had this show,鈥 Fitzpatrick said.
Striker went into the show as the top-ranked US dog, with more than 40 best-in-show wins since January 2020. And Bourbon had also won the AKC National Championship.
The show was bittersweet for Jade鈥檚 handler and co-owner, Valerie Nunes-Atkinson. She guided Jade鈥檚 father, CJ, to a 2016 Westminster best in show win 鈥 and lost him last September, when the seven-year-old died unexpectedly of a fungal infection.
鈥淭he good part about it is: He鈥檚 left an incredible legacy,鈥 said Nunes-Atkinson, of Temecula, California. She said Jade 鈥渉ad my heart鈥 from birth.
Boy had come a long way to Westminster 鈥 all the way from Thailand, where one of his owners was watching from Bangkok, according to handler Rebecca Cross. 鈥淗e always makes us laugh,鈥 said Cross, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
For many dog owners, just making it to Westminster is a thrill 鈥 even for baseball鈥檚 all-time home run leader, Barry Bonds, who was cheering on a miniature schnauzer he owns with sister Cheryl Dugan.
The dog, Rocky, didn鈥檛 win his breed, but the slugger said he was proud of Rocky simply for qualifying for the champions-only show.
鈥淲e won because we got here. That鈥檚 all that matters,鈥 Bonds told Fox Sports. 鈥淚鈥檝e been to a lot of playoffs, and I鈥檝e been to the World Series, and I鈥檝e never won. But for 22 years, I kept trying.鈥
The 56-year-old Bonds holds baseball鈥檚 career home run record with 762, though his feat was clouded by allegations of steroid use 鈥 he denied knowingly taking them.
While semifinal and final rounds were held in a climate-controlled tent, earlier parts of the competition unfolded on the grass at an estate called Lyndhurst.
Douglas Tighe, who handled a Brittany named Pennie second place in the sporting group, says he just goes with it if his dogs get distracted by birds and other attractions in the great outdoors.
鈥淟et them have fun,鈥 said Tighe of Hope, New Jersey. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it鈥檚 all about.鈥
That鈥檚 what it鈥檚 about to Kole Brown, too. At age 9, he showed a bull terrier named Riley alongside his parents, Kurtis Brown and US Air Force Captain Samantha Brown, and some of the family鈥檚 other bull terriers.
鈥淚 have a lot of fun with this sport,鈥 said Kole of San Antonio, Texas. 鈥淓very single time I go into the ring, I have a smile on my face.鈥
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