NSW Championships - Judges Report

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NSW Championships - Judges Report

Postby Colleen Davis » Mon 22 Sep 2008 9:33 am

I am posting this with the permission of Noel who wrote this excellent Judges report for the NSW Championships.
Thankyou to Noel for taking the time to put together this report. I hope you all enjoy reading it.
Regards
Colleen

Royal New South Wales Canine Council

2008 Retrieving Trial Championship

Judge Report: Noel Eltringham

In April I received quite an unexpected phone call from Joe Law from the organising committee for the 2008 New South Wales Retrieving Trial Championship. The purpose of Joe’s call was to invite me to judge the 2008 New South Wales Retrieving Trial Championship Retrieving Trial. After a short consultation with my wife who accompanies me to most trials I was able to respond to Joe to inform him that it would be an honour to judge this event to be conducted over six runs on weekend of the 13 & 14 September 2008. The New South Wales Retrieving Trial Championship has a long history of conduct and has been won by many famous retrieving trial dogs over the years both from New South Wales and interstate.

As time towards the event grew closer preparations were gradually put in place. The location for the trial was to be the Jugiong area on the ‘Gunnong Jugrawah’ Station owned by Sandy and Cathy Tait. This property is a magnificent property set on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River and is a traditional, southern slopes grazing property 19 km south east of Jugiong. Many famous race horses have been bred and found their final spelling paddocks on the property. The property is also excellent for the conduct of retrieving trials providing a range of land and water terrain to test the top quality-retrieving dogs which are presented at Championship Stake trials.

My wife and I departed Melbourne for Jugiong after work on the Wednesday evening prior to the trial. After picking up our caravan from a friends property at Beechworth in north east Victoria we were on the Hume Highway again to arrive in Jugiong at 11.00 pm Wednesday evening. Wednesday evening was spent on the town reserve in Jugiong township. Thursday morning arrived to the ground being covered in a thick frost. The final 20 minute drive to the property was undertaken prior to breakfast on the Thursday morning. After setting up the caravan for our stay Joe Law was able to give me a guided tour of the areas available for the conduct of the trial later on the Thursday morning.

The rest of Thursday was spent inspecting the trial areas in detail and putting in place ideas for the six runs that were to constitute the 2008 New South Wales Retrieving Trial Championship. Runs were further clarified in my mind over Thursday evening.

The field entered for the 2008 NSW Retrieving Trial Championship was excellent with 23 entries being received for the event. It is humbling to think the handlers of the 23 entries have entrusted me with the responsibility of setting a six run Championship Stake over which to assess their dogs. My only wish was that I could set a six run championship stake worthy of the trust shown in me as a judge and maintain a strict level playing field over which to assess the dogs.


Friday morning saw the arrival of Peter Serle one of the event trial managers with the equipment trailer. The rest of Friday was spent putting equipment in place for the conduct of the first three runs for the event, which were to be held on Saturday.

Run 1 got under way at 9.00 am and was a double mark retrieve with the first bird cast being cast from right to left and landing on a ridge 100 metres from the firing point. After firing at the first bird handler the dog was refocused to fire at the second cast bird at 125 metres and cast from right to left at an angle of 30 degrees to the first bird. To get to the first bird to be retrieved, which was the first bird, cast dogs had to cross a deep gully three times and to get to get to the area of fall of the second bird the dogs had to cross this gully four times. Handlers could see their dogs in the area of fall for both birds. Both birds were landing on open ground. Of the 23 dogs coming to the line for the first run, 15 dogs completed the test. The extent to which the gullies and ridges forced dogs off line proved the major obstacle in this run. The top scoring dogs after run 1 were Gr RT Ch Kadnook Pride Ov Cork CM on 51 points followed by FT Ch Pointgold Obliterate RRD and Gr RT Ch Kadnook Tanks Aheap. Eight dogs failed to complete run 1.

Run 2 was a triple retrieve comprising of a two-bird retrieve (where a bird is cast when the dog is returning with the first cast item of game) plus a blind find retrieve. Dogs were left in a hide and the handler proceeded forward to fire at the blind find retrieve and then reloaded before calling the dog. The handler then fired at a mark at 120 metres on the far bank across a gully. The blind find retrieve was located diagonally across gully at a distance of 110 metres and 40 degrees to the right of the mark. The two bird which was cast whilst the dog was returning with the first cast mark landed between the mark and the blind at a distance of 80 metres and landed in the bottom of the gully. The order of retrieve was the first cast mark, followed by the blind then the cast two bird. Top scoring dogs on this run were RT Ch Tockatunga Little Rascal on 52.5 points followed by Nat RT Ch Coalsgarth Tassie Fern and Adderslot Mustang Sally RRD. Two dogs failed to complete this run.

Run 3 was another triple retrieve comprising a double fall retrieve (where an item of game is cast while the dog is on the way out to the first cast item of game) and a blind find retrieve. The dogs were first placed in a hide, the blind fired at, the gun reloaded and the dog called to the firing point. The blind find retrieve was located on land at a distance 0f 140 metres from the firing point. The first mark of the double fall retrieve was cast into water at a distance of 100 metres and 50 degrees to the right of the blind find retrieve. When the dog had taken the diagonal entry into water the double fall bird was cast from 80 metres back along the bank between the blind find retrieve and the mark retrieve. The top scoring dogs on this run were Nat RT Ch Coalsgarth Tassie Fern on 51.5 point followed by Lowther Highland Tsu, Gr RT Ch Kadnook Pride Ov Cork and Kadnook Remember Jazz AARD. Three dogs failed to complete this run.

Run 4 the first run on the Sunday day two of the trial consisted of a triple mark retrieve. The first leg consisted of a walk up retrieve with the bird cast from left to right at a distance of 40 metres from the handler and landing in shallow water. The handler then moved forward to the firing point to fire at the second and third cast birds. Bird two was located at 115 metres directly in front of the dog and the last cast bird was between the first two cast birds at a distance of 130 metres. Heavy reed cover faced the dogs for legs two and three of this retrieve. The order of retrieve was the left hand bird, followed by the long cast bird and lastly the short walk up bird. One dog failed to complete run 4. The top scoring dog on run 4 was RT Ch Tockatunga Little Rascal on 50.5 pints followed by Gr RT Ch Kadnook Pride Ov Cork CM and Nat RT Ch Adderslot Crackers Trigga CM.

Run 5 the second run on the Sunday, day two of the trial, was a mark retrieve located between two blind find retrieves. All items of game were retrieved from land with the mark located at 105 metres, the left hand blind located at 135 metres and the right hand blind located at 110 metres. The dogs were initially left in a hide whilst the handler fired at the blind find retrieves. The handler then reloaded and called the dog before firing at the mark. Each leg of the retrieved involved the dog going either through heavy reed cover or through a shallow water hole. One dog failed to complete this run. The top scoring dog on this run was Gr RT Ch Kadnook Pride Ov Cork on 43 points followed by Gr Rt Ch Kadnook King Of Kanbera DM and Kadnook Tanks Aheap.

Run 6 the last run consisted of a mark and a blind find retrieve from water. This run was simplified from a triple leg retrieve to a double leg retrieve as a result of a heavy rainsquall that swept the property between runs five and six. The blind find retrieve was located at 140 metres with a diagonal entry into water. The mark retrieve was located up on a bank at 110 metres and to the right of the blind find retrieve. The dogs had to swim a distance of approximately 70 metres on the way to the blind find retrieve. All dogs remaining 8 completed run 6 of the trial. The top scoring dog on run 6 was Nat RT Ch Coalsgarth Tassie Fern on 50.5 points followed by RT Ch Tockatunga Little Rascal and Gr RT Ch Kadnook Pride Ov Cork CM.

I would sincerely like to thank the efforts of my trial managers for the weekend Jason Ferris and Peter Serle. I would also like to very much thank the tireless efforts of the dedicated game and gun stewards for the weekend, Flo Tidswell, Paul Hamson, Steve Bath and Mark Sargison who travelled to the site for the weekend specifically to help.

NSW STATE RETRIEVING TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP Saturday 13 September & Sunday 14 September 2008

Judge: Mr Noel Eltringham (Vic)
1st G.&S. Tawton’s Gr RT Ch Kadnook Pride Ov Cork CM (Lab D) 278 pts
2nd R. Whitechurch’s RT Ch Tockatunga Little Rascal (Lab B) 256 pts
3rd R.&P. Tawton’s Gr RT Ch Kadnook King Ov Kanbera DM (Lab D) 251.5 pts
4th R.&P. Tawton’s Gr RT Ch Kadnook Tanks Aheap (Lab D) 242 pts
5th R. Whitechurch’s Nat RT Ch Adderslot Crackers Trigga CM (Lab B) 234.5 pts

Breeder of the winning dog: Kadnook Kennels
Youngest dog to finish day 1: J. Lynch’s Lowther Highland Tsu RRD
Highest scoring non-RT Champion: J. Law’s Kadnook Remember Jazz AARD
Youngest bitch to complete the trial: G. Bridges’ Adderslot Mustang Sally RRD
Youngest dog to complete the trial: R&P Tawton’s Gr RT Ch Kadnook Tanks Aheap
Team event: G. Bridges’ Adderslot Mustang SallyJ. Law’s Kadnook Remember Jazz AARDG. Tawton’s Gr RT Ch Kadnook Pride Ov Cork CM
Colleen Davis
 
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Joined: Thu 23 Sep 2004 7:55 am
Location: Newcastle

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