Betty's 2009 Convention Winners

English Angora Best of Breed winner Chu's Susie, also the winner of Best Overall Wool.

English Angora Best Opposite Sex of Breed winner Chu's Maddex, tort senior buck.

First place white senior buck, Chu's Wylie.

Best Opposite Sex of Variety winner white junior buck BC7AN.

Best White Junior Doe BC9AN.

Best Colored Wool winner Chu's Blondelle.

Jamie and Jennifer

Judge Jamie used to live in So. CA but he has recently moved to GA for a better job. It's GA's gain and CA's loss.

Jamie and Jennifer are a new couple. Jennifer is a American Fuzzy Lop breeder; they met in rabbit shows and now are going steady.

We wish Jamie and Jennifer a happy and wonderful life together.

Maiko Shows English Angora In Japan

Meliss judges English Angora while Hiro works on his judge's license.

Chu's Mabel won Best of Breed and Best Wool.

Chu's Jayden won Best Opposite Sex of Breed.

In addition winning BOB and BOS in English Angora, Maiko also won BOSB in Holland Lop and BOSB and Best Wool in Jersey Wooly. She and judge Carol B. are pictured here.

Coastal Train

Del Mar is a very interesting town. It's the location for the San Diego County Fairgrounds, it's town totally next to the ocean, it's a town with lots of very expensive shops, and it's a town that the railroad goes through.

Fairgrounds and railroads usually located in the sections of the towns that are considered as low rent district; in Del Mar the "usual" does not hold. Just next to the beautiful beach with nice restaurants and expensive homes, the trains run through on a regular basis.

In the four photos above, a coastal train comes and goes; the sand next to the train is a part of the beach. It's a very interesting combination.

Del Mar Town Square

Chris O. views from a upper level of Del Mar Town Square.

Pacific Ocean is within the viewing distance.

Another view of Del Mar street and the ocean.

An entrance at the upper level of the square.

An outdoor restaurant.

Chris O. relaxes at the outdoor lounge.

Have you ever seen a restaurant that requires reservation to dine in?

Carol G. Judges American Fuzzy Lop In Japan

We thank Yumiko for sending photos of the Nippon Rabbit Club shows in Japan.





Judges Carol G. and Melissa are being introduced to exhibitors.






Carol judges her favorite breed: American Fuzzy Lop.






Carol examines a shaded Fuzzy.







Carol checks a broken black Fuzzy.








A Fuzzy winner, who's the happy mom?





Happy mom Yumiko has picture taken with judge Carol and her Fuzzy that won Best Opposite Sex of breed.

Another photo of Yumiko with Carol.

Hiro Nakayama, the only ARBA registrar in Japan, is working for his judge's license.

Four English Angora Best Of Breeds, One Of Each Kind

White doe Chu's Susie won BOB in the 2009 ARBA Convention.

White buck Chu's Nolan won BOB in the 2008 ARBA Convention.

Colored doe Chu's Sevenah won BOB in the 2007 ARBA Convention.

Colored buck Chu's Ashton won BOB in the 2003 ARBA Convention then advanced to winning the Group.

Betty says,

"It is unusual for a buck to win Best of Breed in any of the Angora breeds; it is even more unusual for an English Angora buck to win the BOB in the ARBA national convention.

In 2008, Judge Randy S. asked me whether Nolan was the first white buck to have won that honor. I don't know whether it's the first ever, but I do know it's the first in 23 years that I have attended ARBA conventions; and I also had only seen one colored buck winning BOB English Angora in the ARBA convention and that was Ashton in 2003.

Most of the years the winner would be a white doe or a colored doe, bucks are usually the Best Opposite Sex of the Breed (BOS). In the past years, I have had many does, white and colored, winning the Best of Breed even Best In Show in the national conventions. Buck wise, I have only had two winning convention BOB and group and those are Ashton and Nolan.

At the present time, I have four convention BOB living in my barn: colored buck Ashton, colored doe Sevenah, white buck Nolan and white doe Susie; four BOB and one in each kind.

Ashton is Sevenah's grandfather; Sevenah is Susie's mother. Ashton is also Nolan's great grandfather, and Nolan has sired Maddex, the BOS in the 2009 convention. It is a family tradition to compete in the national conventions.

Ashton also has the honor of having his photo as the breed photo in the most current ARBA poster and the same photo is on the breed page of the 2009 ARBA convention official catalog. Furthermore, a different photo of Ashton is gracing the page of Angora rabbits on Wikipedia."