In a Westminster Kennel Club surprise, a big-winning whippet was bounced from the US’ top pooch pageant Monday by his own sister.
Whiskey had won the prized National Dog Show televised at the end of November and the prominent American Kennel Club event shown on New Year ’s Day, but his bid for a Triple Crown of dogdom ended when he was topped by littermate Bourbon in the breed judging.
“She’s the new kid on the block,” handler Cheslie Pickett Smithey said.
Photo: AP
Bourbon on Monday advanced to the hound group competition at Madison Square Garden. Biggie the pug — the toy, herding and nonsporting champ who had fans chanting his name at the Garden last year — advanced to the evening session.
More than 2,800 dogs in 203 breeds and varieties were entered. The best in show was to be picked yesterday.
For Pickett Smithey, the win was a bit bittersweet. She teared up talking about the result, because she and her husband, Justin Smithey of Sugar Valley, Georgia, co-own both dogs. He guided Whiskey in the ring.
“I just hate beating Whiskey,” she said.
Last year, Whiskey won the breed at Westminster, and Bourbon was awarded best of opposite sex. This time, the three-year-olds switched places.
“We’re as proud as we can get,” he said.
Whiskey was not sour after the upset. The littermates nuzzled outside the ring when it was over.
They are “best buds,” Pickett Smithey said.
Whippets are similar to greyhounds, only smaller. They are known for their running speed, but Bourbon was under control. She was more mesmerized by the meat treats that Pickett Smithey fastened to her arm with a rubberband.
At one point, she sensed that Bourbon needed a little extra.
“Go get me the fish,” she told an assistant from inside the ring.
This year’s Westminster features two new breeds, the grand basset griffon Vendeen and the Nederlandse kooikerhondje.
There were 57 golden retrievers entered, but just one sloughi — who was a no-show.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS