Thread: Trial Reports.

The Northern Ireland Pointer Club held an Open Stake for Any variety Setter & Pointers under Kennel Club Rules and Field Trial Regulations. The venue was The Brunt Beat at Glenwherry with the kind permission of The Irish Conservation Project and the local landowners. The Judges were Carol Calvert and John Murray.
The breeze peaked at 12.7 mph, it was raining at the start but by the end it was a perfect sunny afternoon and a representative temperature would be 13º.
Results:-
1st Gortinreagh Dixie Gerald Devine’s English Setter dog.
2nd Koram Kaiser James Coyle’s Pointer dog.
3rd Glendrisock Brita Dr. Stephen Clarke’s Red Setter bitch.
4th Oksby Basso Des O’Neile’s Pointer dog.

Van.
His run was in two parts. He was with me the first time I let him off and he made several relatively, for him, flat cuts before our brace mate chased a hare. Did I actually see Van ignore a hare or did he just not see it. He certainly could have smelt it. Anyway he was relatively easily picked up.
His second run was where it all went wrong and not helped by circumstances. ( Yes these are excuses!) The cover was in sort of parallel blocks that were just too deep. Van ran the gaps and this all contributed to the bite being too big. I didn’t expect another run but he pleased me none the less.
Basso.
His first round was as good as it gets. At least one person said that it was maybe the best they had ever seen any of my dogs run. (They maybe never saw Jump or Judy on The Liffey Head or Bold on Trantlemore.) It wasn’t The Best Ever but it was up there. It is one thing to get an almost ideal set up but it is another to make use of it. This was a rectangular bit of ground with a fence to the right and a road on the left. I’m not good at distances. Maybe two hundred and fifty yards wide and with the wind blowing right down the middle. ALL Basso had to do was bounce off the fence and the road like a pinball. ALL! I thought he did it really well. He was running against Craigrua Kansas, what had been my Red and white setter. They both were up for it and I thought that Basso was just that bit neater and shaded it.
His second round was just coming off the top of The Brunt. He was running nicely again and heading right he pointed. I worked him forward but could produce nothing. We were cast on again and on more or less the same line, but a bit further forward, he pointed again. That’s the way I remember it. ( Somebody said today they thought he had two non productives! If he did I can’t remember the second one but then I am 62 y/o) A single cock was produced and he was steady to the shot.

There were four dogs still standing with game at the end of the trial. It is fair to say that one, two or three would have been a meaningful result as it would have left Basso qualified for Open Stakes next year in England and I suppose I would have broken your arm for any sort of place before the event but fourth is the one place I didn’t see myself in.

This is without a doubt the premier grouse trial ground in Ireland. We had everything just right once the weather relented. It was also very good the way we came upon grouse in better numbers towards the end as it meant the dogs that had run the best got the opportunities. Good quality dogs in a well organised and well judged event. What more could you want?