The Sloughi
Story: Inspiration Behind The LGRA
By Jack
William Lewis, Reata Whippets
It was on a trek to Colorado
from Utah, with my Whippets to participate
in a National Oval Track Racing Association
Meet weekend that I first became acquainted
with the Sloughi. After the meet
completed on August 20, 1994, Dominique De
Caprona and Bernd Fritzsch arrived from
Omaha with their Sloughi, five of
them! After the Meet Awards ceremony
we spent the afternoon training the fast
adapting Sloughi to ovaling. Linda and Tim
Sanders then brought all the travelers to
their beautiful home for a great evening and
a super pasta dinner. No better
hospitality anywhere as the Sanders' put us
all up for the evening.
The next day the Oval Meet had
as participants, Whippets, Pharaoh's,
Afghans, a Saluki; and five Sloughi!
As the current (1992-1997) National
Race Director of the NOTRA, I granted
Dominique and Bernd "Provisional" status to
run their hounds, keep a record of their
feats, and then submit the question of the
approval of the Sloughi as a recognized
breed to the NOTRA Clubs at the end of the
year on NOTRA's annual ballot. The
Sloughi did not disappoint in their first
Oval Meet (August 21) and "Chamisa" took the
victory. All the owners were very
impressed with the performance of the
Sloughi that day. Their feat made the
lead story of the September 1994 issue of
The Whippet Wrunner, a monthly newsletter
that published Sighthound racing
results! The year end NOTRA Ballot
process approved the Sloughi for full
recognition with NOTRA.
The NOTRA Nationals were held in
Celina, Texas in May of 1995 and the Sloughi
made their first appearance as approved
NOTRA hounds. The two day event once
again demonstrated the beauty, soundness and
racing heart of the Sloughi. Their
were seven entries each day with "Rif"
winning the 350 meter on May 6, while
"Aswad" came back the next day to win the
four program 300 yard event. Rif took
the Nationals for Sloughi breed with a High
Combined score of 29.5, just hedging Aswad's
29 points. I would see the Sloughi
again in Colorado in June and again the
excitement of their racing was
terrific. I asked Dominique and Bernd
if they would consider coming to Utah to
race in August or September, however when
told the format would include Whippet
Sprints on Saturday and All Breed ovaling on
Sunday, they thought the expense of great
travel for just one day of racing was
prohibitive. I had to agree and then
wondered to myself, why don't we have Sprint
racing for breeds other than
Whippets?!
Determined to have the Sloughi
come to Utah, I spent the months of June and
July, 1995 developing the Rules for what
would become the Large Gazehound Racing
Association (LGRA). I reviewed my Rule
Book with several Whippet racing fanciers,
chief among them Jean Balint, and all gave
me encouragement. In August I
informed Dominique and Bernd, that LGRA
would have its inaugural meet on my
property, Reata Whippet Park, in Riverton,
Utah on September 16. And they
came! "Amir" would lead 8 Sloughis to
the finish line in the first LGRA Meet ever
held and on the following day, Aswad would
come back to win the Oval, with Amir
second.
It is now 1998 and the marvelous
Sloughi have become a great success among
Sighthound Fanciers for both their beauty,
grace and racing ability. And on a
parallel track, LGRA has grown to be a first
rate racing organizations with the annual
Schedule including 50 Meets all over the US
and Canada with over 600 hounds registered
to participate. In the meanwhile the
Sloughi now count amongst their ranks
several Oval Racing Champions (ORC) and
ORC's "Assissa" and "Aswad" have also
achieved their Gazehound Racing
Championship's (GRC)!
The future seems assured for the
Large Gazehound Racing Association, and even
more so for the hounds who inspired LGRA's
birth, the magnificent Sloughi of Dominique
de Caprona and Bernd Fritzsch.
© de Caprona
Jack
Lewis, Reata Whippets, Utah
With the first 2 SGRC Sloughis
A'Ssissa and Aswad Shi'Rayan
~