米伝統のドッグショー、優勝はペキニーズの「ワサビ」

【タリータウンＡＦＰ＝時事】米ニューヨーク市郊外で１３日、第１４５回「ウエストミンスター・ケネル・クラブ・ドッグショー」の決勝が行われ、３歳のペキニーズ「ワサビ」が優勝した。（写真は米ニューヨーク州タリータウンで開催された第１４５回「ウエストミンスター・ケネル・クラブ・ドッグショー」で優勝したペキニーズの「ワサビ」）
　例年２月に開催される同大会だが、新型コロナウイルス流行の影響で延期され、会場も恒例のマンハッタンから今回初めて郊外の邸宅に変更して、無観客で行われた。
　ワサビの飼い主でハンドラーのデービッド・フィッツパトリック氏は、ワサビには「カリスマ性とその動き、見る人を引き付ける力」があると称賛した。同氏は２０１２年にも同ドッグショーで最高賞を獲得している。
　ワサビは、各カテゴリーを勝ち抜いた７匹の中から選ばれた。２位はウィペットの「バーボン」だった。
　同大会には毎年２００種を超える純粋犬種の犬２０００匹以上が出場し、体格や体形、毛並みなどが評価される。犬の動きだけでなく、表情で正しく警戒心や喜びを示しているかも品評される。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/15-14:03）

The Westminster Dog Show crowned a Pekingese named Wasabi its Best in Show Sunday, in the culmination of a reworked pandemic edition of the competition missing its usual pooch-loving crowds.
Normally held in February, the show was delayed and moved from its home in the heart of New York City to a country estate due to Covid-19.
Spectators were kept away and it was the show's first time being held outside Manhattan, but the singular passion of the event, now in its 145th year, was unchanged: dogs.
Three-year-old Wasabi was crowned best in show from a pack of seven group winners which also included Mathew, a French bulldog; Connor, an Old English sheepdog; and Striker, a Samoyed.
Bourbon the whippet came in second.
Speaking a day earlier when Wasabi won the toy group, his owner and handler David Fitzpatrick -- who also won Best in Show in 2012 -- lauded his pooch's charisma, movement and showmanship.
He's in his prime and he just looks wonderful, he added.
The event, an annual celebration of purebred dogs from across the spectrum in size, shape and fur types, brought together over 2,000 candidates from more than 200 breeds.
Dogs are judged on the basis of how well they stack up against breed characteristics as set by the American Kennel Club.
Breeds are assessed not just in terms of how they move, but whether their facial expressions show what is deemed proper vigilance or merriment.