Two Super Q's for Sage

It was a fun USDAA weekend in Laramie, Wyoming. One ring at a great site (well, except for the pesky flies on the last day!).

My goal this weekend was to earn that last GP leg that Summit needs for Nationals as well as the jumpers and standard legs he needed for his MAD. Well we got the jumpers (awesome run) but not the GP or the standard. He did win Masters relay (with Norm and Fl'n) and earned his Masters Relay title. However, something even more wonderful happened this weekend that I did not expect - Sage earned two Snooker Super Q's!

Friday night was Masters Gamblers, Steeplechase, and Snooker. The Gamble was not one that either of my dogs would get so I used Gamblers for warmup and training. Summit had two faults in Steeplechase (would have been a second place) and Sage had a beautiful run and qualified for the finals.

The snooker course was technical with lots of "snookering" between obstacles. I chose to do three sixes with both my dogs. Sage had a nice run and I knew she Q'd but assumed it wasn't fast enough for a SQ. Summit also had a nice run but dropped the number 4 double in the closing. That was the last class and I packed up and went to the hotel - not bothering to look at the snooker results.

The next morning I grabbed a Q ribbon and looked at the results to write down Sage's time/points. There it was - "SQ" next to her name! She got the 7th SQ out of 8 total.

Sunday we had another snooker class. This course was set up for wicked speed. The three reds were set up in a line and directly across from them was the combo 7 which was a straight serpentine. Of course, the 2 and 3 point obstacles were in the middle between the reds and the combo 7, but getting all three 7's was pretty doable. Sage ran pretty early in the class and we had a smokin' fast run. However, there were still a lot of very fast BC's yet to go and many nationally ranked. Sage ended up with the second fastest time and of course, another Super Q! This Snooker course was designed for her. Rather than having to rely on loud verbal call-offs (which seem to be typical of a technical Snooker course), this course allowed the handler to run a nice flowing path. It really did come down to just speed.