The English Setter Club of Ireland held a summer grouse trial under Irish Kennel Club rules and regulations on Sunday 3rd August 2008. The judges were Tom Dunne and Pat Rohan. This is the event that Roxy won last year so we were there to defend the trophy. A decision was made to stay out and not break for lunch and what a good decision it proved to be as the rain started as I walked back to the car and I was running in the very last brace. There was the odd slight shower during the day but mostly it was dry and bright. There were a number of opportunities for finds on grouse but other than the winner none were successful. What we did see was a lot of hard running dogs.
Result :-
1st Maodhog Dawn Run Davy Byrne’s Irish Red Setter Bitch.
Graded Excellent. This dog has now earned enough points in the field to be declared a Field Trial Champion, subject to Irish Kennel Club ratification. I don’t know if the dog has it’s show qualification.
Chris.
Started off in good style. It was all there. Flat, fast and wide quartering and he was really beating his ground. There are a couple of different versions of what next took place but this is a summary. Returning to the middle of the beat from the right and about five yards down wind of his brace mate Chris touched on scent and drew up the beat forcing the Setter to do the same. The setter feathered on the same scent but Chris pointed and the setter backed. The grouse then flushed loose and the setter passed Chris taking him along for the ride about a hundred yards up the beat. Chris gave tongue as well.
Roxy.
Ran really hard and wide at good pace hunting hard but was difficult to turn. That said she was impressive. If anything she was going even harder in the second round but got progressively more difficult to control and was binned for pointing a lark.
Judy.
She was nothing short of magnificent in her first run and roundly deserved a second run. Her second run was the BEST EVER run of any dog that I have handled in competition. It was a pity she had to end it by pointing a lark but she was magnificent if slightly difficult to turn some times. Then to cap it all were were asked to make up a brace for no credit and she got another full run. Partly to see how long she could last and partly to keep her out of the way of Davy’s bitch I just let her go. No whistle and go she certainly did. I would say getting on for a beat of in the region of a kilometer. When eventually I was asked to pick her up she didn’t want to stop. (I checked her over tonight, three days later, and there isn’t an ounce of spare meat on her. Her coat is new and she is in tremendous form. The form of her life not surprisingly.)
Two dogs caught my eye and unfortunately I don’t have the details. One of them was an English Setter of Billy Grace’s. I can’t tell which one as I can’t find my marked card. The other was Pat Dooley’s imported pointer. The details aren’t on the programme. It ran nice lines, at pace and succumed to a lark which it chased but it wasn’t unique in that on the day.
This was a very enjoyable day with good dogs doing their ground. As usual there could have been a few more grouse and a lot less larks. I suppose it’s the time of year but I don’t think I can recall a single trial in which more dogs succumed to larks. Co. Offaly and Kinnity next weekend. Three generations of O’Neiles on a camping trip to boot. Bring it on!
