Area couple’s dog strikes it big at Westminster
Handler Mike Pitts is shown with Striker at Westminster.
Regina Beinhauer is shown with Grand Champion Silverhall Strike Force, also known as Striker, who won best in breed for cocker spaniels of any solid color other than black at the recent Westminster Kennel Club Show.
When Regina Beinhauer first saw Striker as a 6-month-old puppy, she knew he was going to be something special.
Almost four years later, he proved her instincts were correct. Grand Champion Silverhall Strike Force was named best in breed for cocker spaniels in any solid color other than black at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club show held last week at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
“I knew he was a wonderful representative of the breed standard,” Beinhauer said of Striker, who just turned 4 in January.
Beinhauer and her husband, Rick Beinhauer, have bred and shown cocker spaniels for the last 30 years, but this was their first trip to Westminster. The Peters Township couple also breed standardbred horses at their farm in Scenery Hill. They race their horses at The Meadows, where Rick Beinhauer is a trainer and third-generation horseman. Both are members of the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association.
“We were very fortunate to have won the breed, which allowed him to compete in the group, which is a huge, huge honor,” Beinhauer said. “The sporting group is a large group, and there was some tough competition.”
“Dogs fly in from other states, as well as other countries, just to compete,” she said.
The German short-haired pointer who took best-in-show honors at Westminster last week, Grand Champion Vjk-Myst Garbonita’s California Journey, topped the sporting group.
Beinhauer said Striker has shown 10 or 11 times within the past year, winning multiple best-in-show honors, including winning the American Spaniel Club National Show last year, as well as all-breed honors. He stays in Tennessee with his handlers, Mike and Linda Pitts. Beinhauer expects Mike Pitts will be Striker’s primary handler.
Beinhauer said Striker will be busy showing over the next 12 months, a year she hopes will end with a return trip to Westminster in 2017. He will be retired from the ring after that show.
“At least that is the game plan for now,” Beinhauer said.
Striker will continue his career at stud once his days in the show ring come to an end. She said one of his offspring has already finished its champion qualifications, and she is looking forward to seeing his upcoming litters.
“He is so much fun and such a clown,” Beinhauer said of Striker. “He has such a wonderful temperament. I am anxious to see more of his puppies on the ground and in the show ring.”
Striker continued his winning this past weekend, taking best-in-breed honors at a show in Lakeland, Fla., as well as being named the reserve champion in the sporting group.