Castle Rising Two Day Trial – by kind permission of The
Lord Howard of Rising
Trial Organiser – Graham Baldry
Course Director – Grace Baldry-Roberts
Judge – Fred Chapman
Saturday 29th April 2017
First day of trial at Castle Rising, Norfolk. 55 dogs entered,
49 ran. The trial field consisted of a 320yrd outrun, large drive, shed and
pen, on a picturesque Norfolk field completely surrounded by Sandringham
wrought-iron railed fencing. A beautiful sunny day, running on North Country
Mules. The mule ewe hoggs ran consistently well, with a fresh packet for each
handler. These sheep will be used for this year’s English National and this was
the last time they were to be run on before then. A strong run by Claire Neal
and Blake from Wormegay, Norfolk (Run No. 9) with a score of 85, which remained
top until Ricky Hutchinson & Jock from Littledale, Lancs (Run No. 51) which
scored 91, only losing 4 points on his fetch, 1 on his first drive and 4 on the
cross-drive. John Atkinson justified his journey to the trial with 2 dogs in
the top 6 placings – both with clean outruns and lifts. Another notable run in
the placings was James Dumbleton with Sid, with a solid clean pen at the end of
a satisfying run on the day.
Results:
Open
1st
– Ricky Hutchinson & Jock 91
2nd
– Claire Neal & Blake 85 OLF
3rd
– John Atkinson & Wisk 85
4th
– James Dumbleton & Sid 83 OLF
5th
– Ricky Hutchinson & Sweep 83
6th
– John Atkinson & Queen 80
Novice
1st
– Wendy Cole & Mheg 80
2nd
– Ed Hawkins & Jess 77
3rd
– Wendy Cole & Abby 72
4th
– Paul Johnson & Barton Gail 71
Sunday 30th April 2017
Second day of trialling at Castle Rising. Much windier day; the
sheep were a lot more difficult to lift and cheekier around the course. 56 dogs
entered, 42 ran. Ricky Hutchinson had a good run with young dog Moya (Run No.
3) with a score of 80. Beaten by himself at Run No. 14 with his dog Jock with a
score of 89. At Run No. 33 with Sweep, he was occupying 1st, 2nd
and 3rd in the Open placings after scoring 88 points. At Run No. 49,
Bob Powell from Cold Ashby prevented Ricky’s clean sweep of the top three placings
by taking 3rd place with his young dog Mirk, on a score of 82. Local East Anglian handlers Claire Neal and
Graham Baldry took the final 2 placings with competent runs from their dogs
Dexter and Finn. There was a special prize for our youngest handler of the
weekend, Charlie Dumbleton, aged 8 who had travelled all the way from Manchester
– a great prospect for the future! Thank you to Nigel Goodchild for providing
much needed sustenance over the weekend – which topped off a genuinely well
organised trial.
Results:
Open
1st
– Ricky Hutchinson & Jock 89
2nd
– Ricky Hutchinson & Sweep 88
3rd
– Bob Powell & Mirk 82
4th
– Ricky Hutchinson & Moya 80
5th
– Claire Neal & Dexter 79
6th
– Graham Baldry & Finn
Novice
1st
– Ed Hawkins & Jess 72T
2nd
– Graham Baldry & Sid 53T OLF
3rd
– Bob Wilden & Sam 53T
