lilly @work in kralupy. © helge kronsteiner
we did not know if we should enter kralupy again. lilly knows the area and we are always interested in new areas for those few coursings we visit within a year. but then we decided to come again and we didn’t regret. 16 irish wolfhounds where entered and 14 of them where at the start. some of them we met two weeks ago in györ/HU, some of them are “veterans”, wie know them from kralupy and tullamore cup and some of them we saw the very first time. it was a pity that there was one dog too less for two CACIL’s.
this time the weather was very “irish”, we had some rain at the end of heat 1, during the break and at the begin of heat 2. there where less hounds entered than last june, maybe because it was no czech mastership event. especially the deerhounds where missing. only one deerhound found his way to this coursing. so there where only 17 runs + licence run in the first heat.
perfect organisation done by C.C.C.
again the organisation team did a great job. the rain could not stop them and the first heat closed before it was 11am! after a break the second heat started around 12:15 and at 3pm we could drive home! that is new record! respect! there where less runs, that’s true. but every run is about 1km long!
since last year it was the highest number of entered wolfhounds in kralupy and is interesting to watch that the bitches changed completely and some of the dogs stayed. chivas paluduz was the “veteran” of the competition, he has been born on 3. 3. 2006 and he finished both heats! compliments to chivas and his owners!
two year old phoebe (blue) and four year old elee (white). © helge kronsteiner
constant work with young talents in CZ
again there where licence runs for irish wolfhounds, so we will see new talents in competition, soon. i miss new coming coursing irish wolfhounds in austria so much. but it is hard if there are nearly no trainings when you need at least 10 runs to get the licence.
the long course in kralupy (950m with obstacles) forces endurance. in the second heat some of the wolfhounds did not run the whole distance, maybe lack of endurance? that they are interested in running they showed in the first heat. in one case i know that the bitch is short time after her season and has imaginary puppies in her mind. i noticed a similar situation last year with another bitch, so it seems to be tricky to train bitches.
training of bitches can be tricky
in greyhound racing world bitches have a break for long 100 days after starting her season and it has to have a reason. this knowledge is new in irish wolfhound coursing world and sometimes application for european mastership forces starts at competitions even if it is a bad time for bitches. in this case the austrian regulation is much better: 4 competitions out of two years are neccessary for application.
for some young czech talents it was not possible to applicate for the coursing EM so we don’t see them this year in oirschot. hopefully we will see them in hungary in 2012! some irish wolfhounds show us that they can run even at the age of 4 years.
seniors are as important as rookies!
since few month i have the idea to donate special prices for the youngest and oldest irish wolfhound in competition. the running gag kennel will donate those prices for the galtür coursing in september and for the tullamore cup this year. i think it is neccessary to pay attantion for young talents and for older irish wolfhounds, “filling up the fields” without big chances to win. i was so happy to see that the team of C.C.C. had the same idea!
chivas got a special price as veteran in this competition and the balfama B-litter crew got a special price as rookies of the competition! thanks for it! with enya we learned that even an old irish wolfhound can have fun with hunting the lure. 950m is a pretty long distance for an older wolfhound but we can find enough coursings with shorter distances. and maybe there are enough irish wolfhounds one day to start a senior class. if the age of our breed is an important topic than it is an important topic to train and demand them longer than two years.
the winner takes it all
phoebe was the winner of the day! she was winner irish wolfhounds, winner of all breeds and got a special price from one of the judges for being the best irish wolfhound. she is incredible fast and has a big will to hunt. at the start she reminds me to young lilly. poor handler! 
phoebe - winner of the day! © helge kronsteiner
the judges in this competition showed, that the system with 5 categories makes it possible for older hounds to compete. phoebe, one of the youngest bitches, won and elee and lilly, both the oldest bitches of the competition with 4 years got place 2 and 3. a pity for the boys that they where only five and had to run with the strong bitches. it would be easier for them to run among them. on the other hand it forces them to show their best if they compete with the girls. 
i saw lord gadhar the second time running with lilly and he showed a real good performance again. he is as old as lilly is.
dressed for success
i don’t know what to think about coursing shirts for irish wolfhounds. i see irish wolfhounds in their tight shirts and i have the feeling that some of them don’t feel comfortable. maybe it is coincidence? i don’t know. even if i think that the skirts look trendy i’ll stick to our old-fashioned blankets.
family meeting
again we met the balfama and dar amhantar pack, close relatives to lilly. their “cock of the roost” is lord gadhar. at the moldova the whole pack could run and play after the coursing. it was big fun for lilly to have a wolfhound pack around her and she enjoyed it. some of her cousins love to swim like lilly does. so we had some wet and happy wolfhounds around us. after this walk we tried to make a family photo. this was the best we could get. lord gadhar is looking far away. obviously he was so bored by waiting until the young girls where ready for the photo.
lord gadhar, annan, the dar amhantar-sisters, lilly and the balfama-B's
kralupy again?
at the moment i say that we don’t come again with lilly. she knows the area very well now and we are interested in other locations, too. so it is nothing against kralupy we feel so comfortable every time we are there. and who knows, maybe kralupy catches us again …
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