Page 58 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE 7

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 5 8

2004 - 2024 20 YEARS OF SSARA

BY M.-DOMINIQUE CRAPON DE CAPRONA - USA
The beginning

In 2003 I drove with 8 Sloughis to a LGRA racing event North of Chicago, 8 ½ hours from
here. I arrived there at a flooded field, and was told the event was moved to another field.

I had driven all the way specifically to run the dogs in a fenced field. The new field was
open between major busy roads. So, refusing to risk the dogs, I drove back without
running them.

In Iowa I ended up driving between a tornado warning on my right and a violent storm on
my left. Bernd was nervous on the phone. I barely made it home. A 17 hours’ drive for
nothing.

The next morning, still tired from the long drive, I was sipping my first coffee, looking out
the window towards our largest field. My brain fog lifts. An aha moment. How long is that
corn field? and why not make a straight tract on it? .........We measured....the corn field
was long enough!

October 31, 2003, Gray Summit, Missouri

For the Shi’Rayân Sloughis Amateur Racing Association (SSARA) to be recognized by
LGRA, it needed a sponsoring Club. The St Louis Area Sighthounds (SLASH) in Missouri
agreed to do so and watched as we put up the SSARA LGRA event for the SFAA National
Specialty that weekend at the Purina farms field near St. Louis, Missouri. Ann
Chamberlain (LGRA’s record keeper at the time), a Sloughi owner, driving down from New

Jersey, did the board that day.

View of the Purina field with the track.
Ann Chamberlain with the rosettes, 2003
© de Caprona