HENDERSON, KY. (WFIE) – Saturday afternoon was a “damn” good day at Ellis Park. Yes, a wonderful play on words for the day’s Corgi and Dachshund championship races! The qualifying heats were held in July, so these were the best of the best: all the winners competing to see who was ultimately the fastest dog of each breed.

First up is the dachshund race and off we go. Sprinting straight to the finish line to her owners is the two-time defending champion in the dachshund race, “Ellie Sparkles,” and she is the queen of the dachshunds.

OK, next up is the Corgi Championship race. Five amazing Corgis compete for the title, and “Mia” immediately charges at her owners, wins by a wide margin, and then runs straight into the winner’s circle.

So, the ultimate showdown: Ellie Sparkles versus Mia for the ultimate top dog! Who wants it? Mia looks back at Ellie Sparkles as if to say, “Are you coming?” And Mia decides she’s just going to go for it and cross the finish line first! What a race! We spoke to Mia’s owners after she was crowned the ultimate champion.

“We trained her. We ran around the yard. We threw the ball around, she chased it and brought it back,” said Michaela Kelly, Mia’s co-owner.

“That was pretty much the culmination of her entire training. She was just throwing the ball and running back and forth in the backyard. And we noticed that she was really fast. So we thought she should give it a try,” said Mia’s co-owner Kelly Kelly.

“Every time we cast the fishing rod, she runs after us. So we thought if we had a fishing rod, maybe she could run after us faster,” said Michaela.

Congratulations to the overall winner, Corgi Mia, and to Ellie Sparkles who is still the queen of the dachshunds. Racing continues this weekend at Ellis Park on Sunday and Monday.

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