The English Setter Club of Ireland held it’s Spring Open Stake in the Dublin Mountains on Sunday 12th March 2006 under Irish Kennel Club Field Trial Rules and Regulations. The judges for the day were Jim Crotty and Aiden Dunne. Originally scheduled to be held at Kippure the event was moved to the slightly lower venue at Killakee in an only partially successful attempt to avoid the thick swirling mist. There was much talk of how many judges would not have even attempted to hold this trial and that is undeniably true but in essence there was sufficient visibility to operate. What didn’t seem to be understood is that as we have so few grouse in Ireland birds are relatively happy , and much more likely, to move off a piece of ground that they don’t like as they aren’t likely to loose their territory. Any self respecting grouse would not stay in the mist and any foolish enough to do so would sit up above the heather and be nearly unapproachable.It was therefore not surprising that no grouse were seen in the context of the stake.
Results :-
1st Glynlark Playfair Carol Calvert’s Red Setter Dog.
2nd Lefanta Hawk Henry Joe Magill’s English Setter Dog.
3rd Blackstairs Cindy Christy Davitt’s English Setter Bitch.
All graded excellent, but all finds on snipe.
All the dogs that I saw ran well and also appeared to handle the mist quite well. The dogs with the finds took the snipe in fine style, but then you would expect snipe to sit tight in mist. All in all and excellent trial badly affected by the conditions.
Jump :- Ran against one of Billy Grace’s English Setters, Capparoe Lassie , and just about shaded it for me, the difference being that he was flatter. He was a bit difficult to turn on occasions but it was still a very good display. I thought he was marginally better than Judy.
Judy :- This was without a doubt Judy’s best trial display, in fact any display, to date. We were braced with Joe Sullivan’s Irish Setter bitch Bright Dawn. Both dogs took to the hill with gusto and at the end there wasn’t much in it. Judy was flat and wide. Because I have slightly better control over Judy I can let her go to the very edge of her beat knowing I will be able to turn her easily but this wouldn’t be any good if the dog wasn’t really going at it and she was really up for it. I had realised this when I let her out of the trailer in the morning as she had come and taken hold of my hand with her mouth, a sign of togetherness. At the end of her run she came on point but wasn’t able to produce anything. Judy doesn’t false point as a rule but we couldn’t come up with a bird today. In addition she was steady while her brace mate put her under pressure.
Aiden Dunne said afterwards that a properly handled bird would have probably won her the trial. This confirmed my opinion that she had done well. Sometimes we just kid ourselves. I just hope she can keep this level of performance next week. In the meantime I will still be working on her steadiness. If her luck changes and we get a bird I don’t want any slip ups.
