A
top win with a Siamese kitten had always been an elusive
dream for me. My lines usually mature slowly, with the best
kittens showing little promise until they are close to adulthood.
Then Susan Perkins of Ayuthaya Cattery graciously allowed
me to co-own and share in the fun of showing a very special
kitten who eventually was awarded Best Siamese Kitten in
CFA for the 2001-02 show season.
GC,
RW Ayuthaya Amoroso of Thaifong, affectionately known as
"Rolo", was born in the first litter sired by
GC Thaifong If I Can't Have You... , a cat dear to my heart.
Rolo's dam is CH Angkor Rose Pawnee of Ayuthaya, a lovely
chocolate point female bred by Betty White. Pawnee (aka
Molly) was Susan's foundation female and was a wonderful
cat with which to start a breeding program. Molly had already
produced three nice litters sired by GC Rocee's Stiletto
of Thaifong. A male from the first breeding, GP, RW Ayuthaya
Nijinski, was Susan's first grand, a one show grand, a regional
winner and Second Best Siamese in Premiership nationally!
But little did we know that the best was yet to come.
Molly
was a super-mom with a perfect record for kitten survival.
In four litters she produced 22 kittens and every one of
them thrived.
Rolo
was born in a litter of eight and from the beginning he
stood out from the crowd. I first saw him when the babies
were six weeks old. I walked into Susan's bedroom and there
he was smack in the middle of a pile of 14 kittens. He had
his skinny little neck craned up and the smuggest expression
I have ever seen on a kitten's face. Rolo is not just another
pretty boy -- he has personality plus!
When
the babies were five months old, we started planning kitten
shows and decided to test the waters at the Nutmeg show
in Connecticut. To keep Rolo company, we took a lilac littermate,
Aramis (aka Lilac Larry), and his seal point half-sister,
Arabesque. I had not seen the babies in some time and I
found all three impressive. But in the rings it was Rolo
who shone. He ended up making five of six finals including
a Best Allbreed Kitten over several of the season's NW kitten
contenders. At that point we made the decision to concentrate
on showing him to see how far he could go.
Three
months, nine shows and several thousand kilometers later,
Rolo had accumulated enough points to insure both the Best
Siamese Kitten award and a solid regional win. For the final
show of the season we decided to relax and have some fun.
We entered all three kittens and although two judges preferred
Larry, Rolo still did best overall finaling in all eight
rings.
It
has been said that there is nothing harder to breed than
a chocolate point male Siamese. Rolo is one of the best
I have seen. He is wonderfully elegant with refined boning,
a perfectly straight profile, large flyaway ears and a smooth
wedge tapering down to a fine muzzle. His bedroom eyes are
deep midnight blue. His crowning glory is his flawless color
-- a glistening white body with perfectly matching warm
chocolate points.
Rolo
would not have been possible without the work of the breeders
whose programs produced the many outstanding Siamese behind
him. His pedigree reads like a Who's Who of some of the
finest chocolate and lilac point Siamese ever bred. Some
of the notable regional, national color winning and DM cats
in his pedigree include:
GC,
BW, RW Thaifong Spirit Song, DM
