Open Sugar Beet Test 31st August 2014
Garnons Farm Wormingford
We returned again to Garnons Farm by kind invitation of Mr & Mrs Dobell for our last working test of 2014. We were not in the usual area of the ground this year, and our stewards set three different exercises as we had a stubble field as well as sugar beet to make use of.
Our judges were Steve Polley, and kindly stepping in at the last minute Peter Abbs.
We also had Gordon & David our two “star” dummy throwers, and help from non committee members, which is always appreciated.
We started the day with a walk-up in the beet, with four dogs in line. The first retrieve was in front and then the second retrieve was across the line. most dogs succeeded in this exercise.
We then had two static tests, started before lunch and then completed in the afternoon. The first comprised of a blind along the hedge-line, to be retrieved first, after a mark into another field became a memory. The dogs had to go through a gap in the hedge to collect this, which tested the handler’s ability to keep their dog away from the mark, again most dogs completed this exercise.
The third test needed a degree of trust in your dog, there was a long mark, downhill into the stubble field, but the dogs could not see the fall, so sending to the area and having a dog that listened to the stop whistle to remain in the area was the key to getting this retrieve, once completed there was a blind behind, which was along the edge of some woods, again the dogs that were on the “stop whistle” made a better job of this exercise.
The scores were all very close, which was reflected with two dogs in a run-off for 2nd place, and a four dog run-off for 4th place. The winner not being in the run-off was taken completely by surprise when the awards were announced!
Mr & Mrs Dobell joined us for tea and cake and presented the awards.
1st Bren Van Laun Twitchet Nymph LRB
2nd John Iacono Serrara Adalhi Cahira LRD
3rd Alistair Ford Striking Snipe LRD
4th Dominic Butcher Testtrio Herman LRD
CoM Ken Byron Copperwheat Aston Tack LRB
Liz Ingram Garrethall Ouka LRB
Fiona Milne Burntcoombe Buffy LRB
Judges Choice Mick Elsey Kayteens Kentucky LRD