NZ Nationals - and a new Double Grand Champion

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Hi all,
The NZ Nationals have just been held over the weekend.

I took Jazz only, as Diggie does not travel as well. I thought I'd spare him the plane trip.

There were 5 Maine Coons in the entire cat section. The other 4 were full showlines and included imports from Europe and others from US lines. Jazz is still on our provisional register as he is part foundation - from Maine.

I was going to post on the list before I went, but I didn't think Jazz would do that well being a foundation poly. He proved me wrong! His results, which I am bursting with pride to announce, were:
First day (a bit stressed) 3rd best Maine Coon in 2 rings, 4th best Maine Coon in the other. No Top 10 placings
Second day (more relaxed) Best Maine Coon in one ring, 2nd and 3rd in the other two rings. He finalled in 2 rings, 5th Best in Show and 10th Best in Show.

The best of all was that the judge who gave him first Maine Coon (and 5th best in show over all longhair breeds) was the US judge! We had all international judges, the others were from Australia. A group of Maine Coon breeders spoke to him later to ask his opinion of the cats and how they compared to those in the US. He said he hadn't noticed that Jazz was a poly until he was taken out for the finals. He liked his boning and musculature and said he had the best head of the cats. He liked his ear set and the length of muzzle. He was asked if he would have placed him as well if he had noticed he was a poly, and he said it would have made no difference as it is allowed in the NZ standard.

Jazz won enough points at the show (which added to his other points from the other 3 shows) to bring him up to a Double Grand Champion (at least if my math is correct!)

So a momentous weekend for us, Jazz and the polys.

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Soozn =^.^=
Mainelymagic Maine Coons
www.mainecoon.co.nz