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GC, BW, NW Tombrock's Chopin Photos copyrighted by the individual photographers
Maria Cristina Bertello and her husband, Cristiano, acquired their first Persian in 2003, and bred their first litter in 2004. They registered their Feanor cattery name with CFA in 2005. Cristina is the person in the family who focuses on breeding. She's the one that selects the cats, studies pedigrees, decides on matings, chooses the kittens. Cristiano is the exhibitor—he does most of the traveling, grooming, and takes on the majority of the showing of their cats. Cristina and Cristiano live near Verona in north-east Italy, however when they started in cats, they lived in Milan in northern Italy—and it was there they first met Gianni Giordano and Salvatore Cuccu of Tombrock Cattery. The four of them quickly became close friends. Their friendship strengthened through the years, sharing bloodlines and breeding litters together until in 2014 Cristina became co-owner of Tombrock cattery. Early in their breeding career, Cristina and Cristiano focused on tabby Persians. Then they introduced bicolors Persians to the mix. When Feanor and Tombrock "merged", solid Persians and Exotic Shorthairs started to pop up in their breeding program. In 2011, Tombrock bred their black Exotic male, Tombrock King Artu to a brown tabby Persian, Jonti Between the Lines of Tombrock.
The resulting litter was born on July 18th, 2011. The pick kitten was a brown tabby Exotic boy named Tombrock's Bam Bam of Feanor. Bam Bam was a cobby boy with a massive round head, tiny ears and sweet expression. Campaigned lightly he was CFA Europe's 14th Best Cat in Championship for 2012-2013.
The breeding that produced Bam Bam was repeated and in early 2013 a litter of seven kittens were born. This time, the best kitten was a black zot named Tombrock's Chopin. Although slower to mature than his older brother, Bam Bam, Chopy was still very promising, so the decision was made to keep him and show him as an adult. As a young adult Chopy was still growing—still developing. He actually took 4 shows to grand—but, in his final show of the 2013-2014 show season, Chopy defeated the adult female Exotic that Cristina and Cristiano were campaigning, a red tabby they called "Liz". Chopy needed to wait his turn so after he granded he remained at home until Liz finished her campaign. GC, BW, RW Tombrock's Elisabeth The One was CFA Region 9's (Europe) 6th Best Cat in Championship 2013-2014.
The Summer of 2014 In the summer of 2014, Chopy began to show his first interest in girls. Perhaps it was his awakening hormones that helped him to finally grow up, but it was clear that he had matured into a stunning adult. By the end of the summer, it was Chopy's turn to show what he could do in the show ring. The decision was made to campaign him for an RW. Perhaps he could do as well as his big brother, Bam Bam. In Chopy's first two shows of the new season he was 2nd Best Cat and Best Cat in Show. When he was again Best Cat in Show at the highly competitive Niedernhausen show in Germany, Cristina and Cristiano knew Chopy was on track to earn an easy RW title.
A Bump In The Road The week after Niedernhausen, Chopy went to a 10-ring show in Sofia, Bulgaria. Three times he was Best Cat—but three times he also missed the finals completely. He didn't even take the breed in those rings! There were three black Grand Champion Exotics competing, and three judges gave Chopy the dreaded "yellow ribbon" for third Best of Color. Cristina and Cristiano were surprised and puzzled. While It was a difficult moment and a low point in the campaign, it didn't shake their confidence in their beautiful boy. The CFA World Show 2014 Undeterred, Cristina, Cristiano and Chopy flew to the United States to attend the prestigious CFA World Show in Philadelphia. Chopy would be competing against the best cats in CFA. This show would be the real test of his quality. By the end of the weekend Chopy was the Highest Scoring Cat in Championship in the Purple Show. He finaled in every ring including being awarded 4 Best Cat rosettes. In the Best of the Best competition, out of 671 entries, he was Best Exotic in Show, 2nd Best Cat in Championship and 2nd runner-up overall. Chopy had a spectacular show weekend at the CFA World Cat Show! He had proven his worth!
The World Traveler After the World Show, Chopy had earned so many points that an RW title was assured. What next? Could they try for a National Win? Cristina and Cristiano had never campaigned a kitty for a national win . . . How difficult would it be for a cat based in Italy? It would mean a lot of traveling . . . They decided to try . . . and Chopy immediately started racking up frequent flyer points. Chopy proved to be an excellent traveler—a real trooper. No matter how long a trip "door to door" might take, he was always a perfect gentleman, preferring not eat or drink or use the litter box until he was settled in his hotel room. He was never stressed, immediately making himself at home in any new destination, lounging on the bed in every new hotel room as if it was his own. He needed to be a good traveler too. He was shown nine times in 7 different European countries, 5 times in the US from the east coast to the west coast, 4 times in Russia, once in China and once in Ukraine. A National Winner! At the end of the season, Chopy was officially GC, BW, NW Tombrock's Chopin—and 3rd Best Cat in Championship in CFA. Shortly after Chopy celebrated his birthday. Barely 2 years old, he is still maturing. Judges who had awarded him Best Cat early in the season could hardly believe that he was even better by the end of the season. Chopy gave Cristina, Cristiano and Tombrock their first national win in CFA. He is now busy with girlfriends . . . but . . . who knows? Perhaps there will be plans for another campaign in the summer of 2015. Chopy just keeps getting better and better . . .
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Below are photos from the show career of GC, BW, NW Tombrock's Chopin Black Exotic Male CFA's 3rd Best Cat in Championship 2014-2015 Born May 15th, 2013 Sire: Tombrock King Artu
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