No Cigar.

As hunts go, this one was about as strange as they come. Yesterday, we had 10 dogs start, and after the first run (TCC runs two complete runs in a hunt, as opposed to a seeded final), the roster was pared by one following a tail injury on one of the dogs, which was operated on in conditions that could only be compared to Civil War field surgery. Let's just say it was uncomfortable to watch. Man, those suckers can bleed.

As reported yesterday, Sandia finished second to his sister, Maya. The Holiday Cup, (which, in fact, is not a cup at all, but a massive wooden chest with a bronze casting of what looks suspiciously like an Italian Greyhound), is awarded to the hound with the highest combined score for the two days. So we returned today minus most of the competitors. In fact, today's hunt consisted of yesterday's 1st place hound, Maya, the 5th placer, Camille, and one of the 2nd place hounds, Sandia. For the mathematically challenged, that's an entry of three. All Galgos.

But somebody had to win the cup, and there was no lack of suspense because there was only 3 points separating the hounds, so off we went to the field.

Very high winds were predicted, along with the possibility of snow or rain, so we were hoping to get this finished quick. The wind was already blowing pretty briskly as we started walking, and questioned our sanity as we had to stop every couple yards to remove "Jumping Cholla" spines from the dogs' pads.

Mercifully, we jumped the jackrabbit after only about a half hour of tramping through the mesquite, yucca, and cholla. Sandia saw it first, off to our right, and I called the "Tally Ho". The course was unexciting, as courses go, and the dogs were soon out of our sight. The judge, standing on the tailgate of her truck, saw a little more than we did, but not enough to satisfy her. She wanted a re-run, but Steve and I had had enough. We said just score it, and agreed to end the hunt on this prelim run.

Sandia won the course over Maya by one point, but he went into the day trailing by two. The "cup" went to Maya.... L-R Chris Mason (breeder), Holiday "Cup", Maya, Steve Garth.

Congratulations Maya and Steve! The torch has been passed to the next generation of Galgos!