UGS Kent & East Sussex Branch held The All Aged Retriever Finals Trial on the 30th December 21 at Wotton, Dorking, by kind permission of Laurence Matthews & Keeper David Smart. We were very privileged to be invited to join the shoot syndicate on their fabulous ground.
We started with a heavy drive on mostly open ground, which meant a lot of birds in area’s that needed skilful handling to pick the right bird. The second drive saw the eventual winner pick a fantastic 250 yard runner, which was a over a ditch & where the dog had to work his nose onto the scent first. We finished on a woodland drive, with the remaining 6 dogs needing to hunt in some very thick bramble cover & where the judges were able to conclude the trial.
My special thanks go to Judges Robert Worrall, Barbara Kuen, James Bailey & Louie Robertson & to all our amazing team of helpers, you certainly make my role a much easier job. Thank you to Laurence & David along with your guns & helpers, we are extremely grateful to all of you for allowing us to be there & for making us feel so welcome. Also congratulations to all of the competitors for qualifying for the stake & showing us some brilliant dog work, it was lovely to spend the day in your company. We were also very lucky to have keen photographer Tony join us for the day who will forward photographs once he has had chance to go through them all.
With a lot of silver ware up for grabs the awards were as follows –
- First Place to Isleoman Gorse of Wylanbriar handled by Di Stevens also winning Trophies for The Best Labrador, Best Retrieve of a Runner, Best Game Finder of the opposite sex to the best game finder & Best Lady Handler at the trial
- Second Place to Ftch. Brockaghs Forba handled by Jim Collins also winning the Trophy for Best Looking Labrador competing in the finals
- Third Place to Annington Bay Maddi May handled by Mell Brooks also winning Trophies for The Best Opposite Sex Dog to the Winner & The Best Game Finder at the trial
- COM to Hollowgate Red Grouse of Rufriver handled by Allie Hogsbjerg
- COM to Ftch. Ticefield Dazed N’Confused handled by Reuben Corbett