The Wicklow and Wexford Club organised both a Puppy Stake and a Novice Stake to be run on Friday 21st August 2009 at Glencree and to be judged by Davy Byrne and Anthony Mulhall.
I took a wind reading towards the end of the day when it was much calmer and still got 10 mph from almost exactly due west. It was mainly bright and sunny but obviously with the wind it felt brisk.
The IKC who licenced this event and under who’s rules it was run have an upper limit of thirty dogs to be run in a day and there were ten dogs in the puppy stake and twenty in the novice, the two standing reserves getting a run. Some dogs competed in both stakes, something I said I wouldn’t do again some time ago, and it is therefore no surprise that some were looking decidedly jaded in the afternoon.
I didn’t spectate the Puppy stake but did see some dogs running and their performance was at least acceptable for the ground was heavy that I saw them in. The Puppy Stake yielded no awards.
The Novice stake was started after lunch on the hill just above the cars and we worked in strips down the hill towards the cars working our way along the hill towards the sea as new ground was required. Birds were expected and we were obviously looking for them. In all honesty I spent a good while wondering how we were going to find grouse working down hill into the teeth of a stiff breeze. Surely no self respecting grouse would be on the windy side of the hill. We should have been up the hill in the lee. Well we did hit birds and the whole atmosphere of the event changed.
Result :-
1st Ikerrin Shaneen RhuTom Dunne’s Red Setter dog by Lisdovogue Prince X Shinilogue Gypsy. Handler Aidan Dunne. Grade Very good.
There was that much happening once we hit birds that it is difficult to comment on why there was only the one award but there didn’t appear to be much grumbling from the competitors which tends to suggest the judges got it about right.
Basso.
There was the odd peat bank on our ground but the rest was very nice running ground. Basso showed his intention and ability to run but he dealt with the wind on the left hand side of the beat in a strange manner and again he ended up behind me on occasions. He was badly disrupted by scent and I would have been gutted had he produced a bird when he eventually pointed as I don’t believe he would have deserved it. I was told by members of the gallery that a hare had left where Basso pointed just a little earlier.
Jalad.
He had a superb bit of ground to run on and I thought he did well covering all the ground available and being flat and fast. I only saw one but I am assured there were two hares on my beat and neither got chased. Jalad was badly disrupted by the inability of my opposing handler to turn his dog. Jalad doesn’t want to be beaten to a bird and he did everything in his not inconsiderable power to stay on the upwind side of his opponent. I turned him and sent him back out a couple of times to keep the two dogs apart but it would only last a cast or two. I’m not blaming my opponent as he is responsible for his dog and me for mine but it did affect the run. Having been told to pick up Jalad drew up the centre of the beat but I really gave him the message with the turn whistle as I felt a neat pick up might just swing it and get me another run. It didn’t, and the next brace had the first birds of the event just up wind. Bugger!
While both my dogs are technically novices they are three and five years old and therefore some years older than the majority of the other dogs, many of which were still actually eligible for puppy trials. While my dogs’ runs were seriously flawed on the day few of the other dogs had the same amount of drive. I always remember the novice stakes I used to attend on Slieveanorra when I started trialling. The only difference between them and open stakes was the wording on the schedule. This competition was well short of that standard at least where drive and hunting were concerned. Perhaps had I seen the pups when they were fresh I might have been impressed but I’m afraid that on the basis of what I did see I wasn’t,…………….. impressed that is.
Aidan was running this father’s dog as Tom has had a hip replaced. I hope he is up and feeling better soon.
