UGS Kent & East Sussex 12 Dog AV Retriever Novice Stake 6th October 2011.
Held at Knowle Game Farm, Ulcombe by kind permission of Mr Stephen King
And at the kind invitation of Mr Roger Wade and Guns
Judges: Mr B Taylor, Mr K Smith, Mrs E Barnes, Mr M Bagg
1st Allan Scutcher – Wylanbriar Weird Fish – FtCh Dipplelodge Raven of Riversway x Pawcrest Jades Dream for Wylanbriar (Guns Choice)
2nd Verona Clatworthy – Swaine Distichum – FTW Garronpoint Ross of Drakeshead x Dearnedyke Dolly
What a day!!!
Walked up trial on beet. Ok takes a deep breath!
We were no.3 so no messing around and straight into line on the left hand side. 1st bird lifted in front of us and fell behind the line. Nice mark for fish to start on. His 2nd bird in the first round was a partridge off to the left. Have to be honest and admit I never marked it, just saw the plume of feathers. Sent fish and as luck would have it the wind was on our side. no handling required.
5 dogs were lost in the first round.
Back in on the right for our second round retrieve. This was a partridge shot on open grass land by the end gun. Unfortunately and at the same time 2 partridges were shot over on the left falling within feet of each other. Fish couldn’t take his eyes off them. Sent him for the partridge on the open grass, took a bit of handling and an extra back to get him out of the beet onto the grass. Ended up right for wind and picked.
3 more dogs went out in the second round.
Only 4 of us left. Back in on the right for the third round backing up the last 2nd round dog to complete it’s retrieve. 3 partridges were then shot infront of us on the right. 1st dog sent from the left unfortunately failed and was then eye wiped. Only 3 of us remain!!
We were then moved over to the left hand side to pick the remaining 2 birds.
The 3 of us left were then taken to the centre of the line to continue walking up. I was in the middle, dog on my rights retrieve next. Completed its retrieve no probs. My turn now! Fish’s 2nd bird in the third round was another partridge, this time taken by the end gun way off to the left. After sending fish I was allowed to move forward to shorten the distance, got him to the area and right for wind, picked nicely.
Dog on my left’s turn next. Partridge shot out front, landed approimately 10ft into the beet from the edge of the field. Dog made a great job of hunting but was eventually called up. My turn to try in the same area. Got fish to the area, hunted him, he got his head down then lifted it with the bird in his mouth. Our first eye wipe in a trial and my god what a time to do it! 
So that’s it 2 of us left in, both with an eye wipe to our credit and both with a retrieve that could’ve been better. Trial over and a nervous wait for the results.
But we did it!!!!!! Fish is now an open field trial dog 
A huge thank you to everyone involved with today. A big thank you to my trainers Graham Home, Chris Marshall and the late and great friend Nick Potts.
Regards,
Al
