My father and his wife breed Scottish Deerhounds, and were entered for Westminster, but ultimately decided not to go. It's just too expensive, and the likelihood of winning was slim -- even though the winning Deerhound is #1 in the country, and their dog is #2 :) But unfortunately, dog shows are 50% about the dog itself, and 50% politics, and the judge wasn't the right one for them to win, so they skipped going.
They have beat the dog that won several times with their dog, and their kennel's bloodlines are in the winning dog, too. They were quite excited to see Hickory win, though; hounds in general tend to get short shrift at Westminster.