Jen Lacey (the impartial reporter!!!)
The
ultimate experience!
written by Camilla Baird, Primprau's
Korats
Now to my report from the World Show! Jen has already revealed the incredible result, but I will follow with my report anyway. I wrote it Sunday evening while I was still dancing on pink clouds and needed to express my joy and pride somehow - Donatella and Jen had left for Rome, so I was alone at the hotel in Milan...
After
17 years of Korat breeding in FIFe and hearing derogatory remarks like 'why
recognise a 'new' blue breed?' and 'Korats never win anyway', we showed them
all! We finally did it! We have a Korat World Winner - EC/IP Primprau's Meo
Hao won BOX SH Neuter at the World Show in Milan 1999! We were a small very
international Korat delegation in Milan - Jen Lacey from UK, Camilla Baird from
Denmark, Donatella Mastrangelo and Susanna Zorzi from Italy. 4 Korats were present
at the show
- an adult female, Jadeye's Arrogance,
- a 6-10 female, Jenanca Anakot Sanyanai,
- a female neuter, Primprau's Meo Hao,
- a male neuter, Primprau's Ditakah Pakhdi.
All Korats got their certificates by Eiwor Andersson from Sweden, a judge very
familiar with Korats. She nominated Meo without even comparing her with the
competition - this was a promising sign, but we didn't dare hope for anything
more - who ever heard of a Korat winning at a World Show?
As it turned out, the SH Female Neuter panel was tough - 7 cats, an unusually
high number of female neuters. Tension in the Korat camp was at its highest
while counting votes - 5 out of 7 for the Korat! Meo was World Winner! Donatella,
as her owner, and I, as her breeder, were ecstatic! We couldn't believe it!
While we were on the stage presenting the Meo at the World Winners Parade, "We
Are The Champions" was blowing out the loudspeakers - it was a great moment!
All Korat breeders can be proud, as this kind of result is the ultimate proof
that what we are working for - a beautiful and healthy breed - is indeed worthwhile.
This result will bring a lot of good PR to the Korat in FIFe and in Italy -
can we ever get enough good PR?
As Meo is a very international cat with a Norwegian mother, an American father,
a Danish breeder and an Italian owner. she is truly a World Winner. Without
the good and solid co-operation between Korat breeders across the world, we
would not have had a Korat FIFe World Winner today. WW99 EC/IP Primprau's Meo
Hao is the result of co-operation between Korat breeders from US, Norway and
Denmark.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank some people who helped make this
possible:
- Anita Hem, Sawat's Korats in Norway - Anita has bred GIC Sawat's Kirilin,
Meo's mother. I want to thank Anita for letting me breed with Kitty.
- Maureen Cray, Yang Chen Ma Korats in US - Maureen has bred Hoo, Meo's father.
Maureen sent over
a wonderful boy, who has meant a lot to several breeding programs in Europe.
- Elfi Kleive for letting me use IC Yang Chen Ma Hoo Who's for his first litter.
Hoo is Meo's father and
has influenced her good looks a great deal. Elfi helped getting me started in
breeding - this litter is very
much her idea... Also without Elfi's hard work 20 years ago with getting the
Korat recognised in FIFe, this
could never have happened!
- Donatella Mastrangelo for showing Meo so much, so she could qualify for this
World Show.
Without all these things preceding the World Show, we wouldn't have a had a
Korat WW in Milan 1999...
WW99
EC/IP Primprau's Meo Hao
©Photo by G. Marcoaldi©
Background picture: Primprau's Meo Hao as a kitten