BY BOB LORDITCH
9/29/99

To understand how and why Buster came to be, you have to know the impact that GRC NW Jovan Chocolate Chip had on our lives. Chocolate Chip was the product of GC NW Mystichill Houdini of Jovan, D.M. and Jenita Terrific Tina of Jovan.. Chocolate Chip parted the seas, gathered crowds at shows and was an easy National Winner Exotic. Tina had large eyes and lots of type. Houdini was a well balanced cat with a great head and sired 15 grands and two National Winners . Chip gained the best of both parents.

With the success that Tina produced Cheryl acquired Jenita Tapestry who is Tina's litter sister. Tapestry was a huge girl and just about the complete opposite of Tina in every way, and I always kidded about her being able to eat around corners. I can still remember complaining that Cheryl, in her infinite wisdom, brought this thing home. I again could have never been so wrong. So what do you breed the thing to? It was an easv choice, GR Jovaii Ditch Digger. Why not Houdini? Houdini would have never pulled that much type.

Ditch Digger was a GRC Mystichill Garfield son with GRC Jovaii Aapri for a mother. This is where the true type replication came from. In Digger's litter there were four fabulous brothers, GRC Jovan Randy Rhoads (produced a kitten of the year), Jovan Trenchcoat, GRC Jovan Hemingway, and of course Ditch Digger. All of these brothers left their stamp on the Persian fancy. Garfield's legacy also includes GRC Jovan Movie Star, mother of a GRC NW South Paw Wish upon A Star, cat of the year. Aapri was a GRC Currle Cats Complaint daughter. Ditch Digger could be counted on to always throw a "PIG" in every litter, and that is what we counted on when we bred Tapestry. Buster was nice from the start. A large boy, but went through an ugly stage that needed weight to balance out. Buster never was shown as a kitten. He came out as an open at ten months in February. He made every final. He continued to do well and we decided that we would try a National run. Buster made it to 88 rings and made 20th Best Cat [when CFA only awarded Top 20]. We never sweated Russ Haussman's ring so badly as it was the last final in the last show of the season. The ring that put us past the existing 20th Best Cat. When you do it in 88 rings most of the judges have never seen the cat before. It was a rush . I think it was just as much a thrill for Russ.

Also on the ground was GRC NW Jovan Yipes Stripes. Yipes was out of Chips mother Tina , and a Red Persian GRC Ziegfiields Fame. Fame was an Abracadabra son, and also the father of a fantastic Persian GC, RW Ziegfields Rock N Roll. Fame's expressive face was stamped out on Yipes.

Buster retired from showing to sire. So many anticipated that he would be campaigned for Cat of the Year the next season. First on the agenda was to cross to Chocolate Chip. The result of the Buster mating was Best Cat, GRC NW Jova The Legend. When it came time to name him, we knew his name would have to be proportionate to his fame to come. We previewed The Legend only once as a kitten to get five bests and a second. Two months later his adult campaign started - ending with 122 rings: 91 best cats, and only one missed final. There is some Trivia for you. Some things you never forget.

Cheryl was also busy buying yet another Jenita female named Fudge Ripple. Another large girl with a pleasant plain face, but with a body to die for. And a brown tabby and white to boot. Buster does it again with Best Kitten Jovan Cheers the following season. Cheers was named after a best cat from years past that I alwavs loved. She also had to have a name having a destiny.

The repeat breeding of the Legend yielded GR NW Jovan Miss America, CFA's 10th Best Kitten.

Buster made his mark in that he produced National Winning cats and many grands . The Legend and Cheers are once in a lifetime gifts rewarded to us for our efforts. Buster produced true to his heritage, as did Chocolate Chip. They both had some of the finest Persians of the time as parents. Persians that produced great Persians were the backbone of all of our winning Exotics.

Somewhere along the way the easy production of instant winning Exotics made it harder to focus on what got us there. The Persians. Our Persian count dropped as our effort and showing was devoted to Exotics. Later, we couldn't find Persian out crosses that worked with the our remaining Persians or our Exotics. Our Persian program had gone to pot. We found that in breeding the Exotics to Exotics they started to replicate their Exotic past, mainly small cats with heads decreasing in size favoring the old Burmese type heads. We never considered breeding The Legend to another Exotic, even if the result might be nice, genetically it is going in the wrong direction.

And then you have the long hair issue, people mistrust Exotic breeders when looking for Persian cats. We knew that great Persians are the keys to Exotics, but if you have no demand for Persians after over 50 Persian grands because you breed Exotics, it's a catch22. It is our firm belief that if don't have a pre-potent top Persians, you won't have a good Exotic line, and you should continually strive to acquire a line-bred top Persian to replenish your Exotic line.

The top Exotic breeder of tomorrow will be your top Persian breeder of today, if they are inclined to add a few Exotic females to the house.