Lucking Farm Gt Maplestead 19th April 2015
Our Area Final Qualifier was held at Lucking Farm by kind permission of Mr & Mrs Newton.
Our thanks go to our sponsors Masters dog foods, for their continued support, and the winners all received a bag of food.
It was an overcast day with the threat of rain, but we were lucky and the rain didn't appear.
Our judges were Richard Beckerleg and Mike Jennings. Steward for the day was Tom Lowe who set some good and challenging tests for the competitors, and the top four dogs will be representing the Essex Area at the Area Finals in June.
Tests one and two were being judged by Richard, and comprised of a mark and a blind. Test one was a long mark onto the hill and once this was retrieved there was a blind behind the tree line on the top of the hill. The dogs did not see the fall of the dummy, and scenting conditions were not good, but with some handling the dogs succeeded in both retrieves.
Test two was in the woods. There was a shot and a mark which fell behind a tree, and this then became a memory, with a blind in the opposite direction to be retrieved first. Nearly all the dogs succeeded, but some did seem to struggle more than others.
Mike was judging tests three and four. Test three was a short walk up, with a shot to the left, then a shot in front with a long mark. This was then collected, and a further short walk up to the left, followed by a blind retrieve down the track and tucked in to the left but in line with the first retrieve. Several of the dogs pulled back to the area of the first retrieve, and then if they went too deep you lost sight of them behind some reeds, but all dogs succeeded.
The fourth test was a mark into the water, which became a memory, and then there was a blind along the track through the hedgerow into the field. The majority of the dogs had to be handled through the gap into the field, with only two dogs crossing the ditch and hedge into the old maize cover.
We must also thank Sporting Saint for their support with goody bags for the winners and to Ray of Country Trail Images for the photos of the day.
The scores were all very close with only one point separating 1st and 2nd place, and only one point behind was a two dog run-off for 3rd place, which was quite unusual as Liz Ingram was running off against herself! There were also two Certificates of Merit awarded.
1st Place Brian Chesser Gunnerheath Amethyst LRB
2nd Place Mick Elsey Kayteens Kentucky LRD
3rd Place Liz Ingram Garrethall Ouka LRB
4th Place Liz Ingram Garrethall Myrhh LRB
CoM Abbie Crawley Almshoebury Persuassion of Riverlilly
CoM Tracey Chesser Gunnerheath Fern