The English Setter Club of Ireland held its Open Stake for A/V Setter & Pointers under I.K.C. Rules & Regulations at Kippure on Sunday 31st August 2005. The day started with thick fog, to such an extent that there was talk of cancellation, as had been the case the day before. The wind veered through 90 degrees and the fog cleared slowly to leave us with just about perfect conditions in the afternoon. The judges for the day were the vastly experienced Tom Hayes and Pat Rohan.
Results:-
1 Capparoe Scott Billy Grace’s E.S.D.
2 Knock So So Charlie Neilson’s P.D.
3 Lefanta Kira Gerald Devine’s E.S.B.
4 F.T.Ch. Creg Jake Hugh Brady’s I.R.S.D.
Jump:- The big dog returned to form and produced a likely trial winning performance in the first round. Taken in isolation just about as good a run as he has ever done. The secret was his handling. Involvement with your brace mate , or checking out a scent can induce a dog into taking too big a bite. The secret is to recognise it and to have a dog that you can handle back into line. Towards the end of our stint Jump emerged from the valley on the right going like the hammers and about sixty yards forward. I brought him back to approximately level with my toes and sent him away out to the left. On the return he had a magnificent find on a single cock grouse. If either I had done nothing, or Jump and failed to respond he would have been a good thirty yards forward of the bird and out of the trial.
Our second run lasted all of thirty seconds. Only a few yards in front of where we cast off, and unseen by either handler was a depression in the ground. Obviously cut with a spade it was about a yard and a half square. Usually full to the brim with wet sphagnum moss , the mini drought in the Wicklow Hills meant the bottom of this cutting was about a foot and a half below ground level. In the otherwise flat bottom was a slight indentation with some water in it. The dogs drew to the depression, and moved forward of it. To my amazement seven grouse erupted from this hell hole. Eliminating me from thetrial.S***!.
There is no doubt that a different ethos exists in Irish Pointer & Setter Trialling than on the mainland. We Irish are more interested in the whole performance on the day and not so worried about what we consider minor flaws in an otherwise classy run. There are also some differences in interpretation that you just have to live with, but there are eliminating faults common to both codes. The problem is that if a judge makes a genuine error, it is still an error. The first placed dog chased a lark in it’s second round, and was very unsure of it’s bird in the first round. The fourth placed dog chased a grouse ( there was a element of mist at the time ) in its first round, failed to point properly a grouse in its second round and chased a lark in its second round. This fourth dog is the same dog that won the week before, under the same judge, having left a bird behind in its work out. It would make a cynical chap think the game ain’t straight.Otherwise the trial was a good one. There were good running dogs, plenty of grouse and the usual high level of sportsmanship.
