Held at the Drovers Court, Montgomery Pavilion, on the Royal Welsh Showground’s on Saturday February 28th 2015.
The canine event calendar is full to the brim, providing all requirements one could ask for in overload, I am sure everyone has their personal favourites and for us this event held under the auspices of ‘Cardiff Canine Society’ is one we would hate to miss Will Harris and I have supported every year as both competitors and officially for the canine press since is inauguration, eight years ago. My reasons you may ask are simple it is consistently at the top of its game for being well organised and professionally run with a great atmosphere and a room full of sporting individuals.
A minutes silence was held before the competition began, as this year saw three missing faces to be remembered for their attendance our dear friend and treasured colleague, Our Dogs reporter Mr Robin Sadler, who since he moved to Wales had also given this event much support, Mr Cliff Jones from Gwent who attended and supported his two lovely grandchildren in their junior handling Max and Libby Jones and my own Father Harry Boyle.
The event receives sponsorship from a number of generous sources, this year was the first time Happy Dog were the main sponsors, Jackie Stubbs himself travelled over from Belfast to bring a 20kg sack of food for the main winner and five pound vouchers for each participating competitor which could be exchanged on the day for a variety of 4kg bags of food.
Dorwest Herbs also as they have each year donated a five pound voucher to each competitor; who additionally received the traditional Welsh slate coasters and a complimentary rosette.
Richard Morris and Ken Andrew also support this event and indeed work hard throughout it, with Richard commentating on individual breed standards and history in dual language throughout.
Celebration printed the Rosettes, certificates and catalogues which this year were A5 colour with half a page per dog including pedigree and details about the dogs themselves.
Drovers court on the RWAS site is a super building, and this year it was once again laid out with thought, white railed picket fenced ring, blue and yellow flowers and the welsh flags were prominently displayed on the Judging table and commentators tables alike.
In attendance at the event was The Rev Alf Williams, who is one of the Royal Welsh showground’s resident chaplains who was thoroughly enjoying the competition.
This competition is made up from 64 dogs who apply for entry having won a junior class in it’s in breed within the qualifying year; these are split into two equal groups, one judged in the morning and one in the afternoon.
The first 32 dogs in group A were called promptly at 11am to collect their ring numbers before their numbers were drawn by Martin Sanders and Ken Andrew for the individual pairings in this knockout style of competing, the Judges as always are to be announced and Martin Sanders does keep this secret very well indeed, this year it was the well-known husband and wife team Paul and Maria Harding of Pringham Bulldogs and Frenchies.
Paul will be known to many as he is the secretary of Manchester have been active since 1979 in breeding and exhibiting their Frenchies and Bulldogs, indeed this past year they were awarded the Our Dogs Top Breeder for French Bulldogs.
Both Paul and Maria have judged at the world Show and Paul judged Frenchies at Crufts with a record entry. Maria is passed to judge at CC level in three breeds and Paul in 17, covering utility and working group breeds. Maria drew the envelope for judging group A.
18 month old black and white parti coloured American cocker dog won group A owned by Zara Boyle (Zarcrest) Our Dogs photographer Will Harris (Zarcrest), and his breeder Jenny Ward (Mischtikals) from Lancashire.
He was shown lightly as a minor puppy and puppy but achieved a BPIB at Leeds ‘14, 2 RCC’s from SWKA ‘14 & Gundog Society of Wales ‘14, 2 CAC’s and was one of the three shortlisted in group 8 for best Junior in Show at Amsterdam Winners last December.
Reserve to him was the whippet Mountain Magician owned by Mrs Joan Hamar from Builth Wells.
Lunch was served next with a excellent menu choice of shepherd’s pie, a chicken dish or a vegetarian option, followed by puddings of delight, including chocolate cake, lemon meringue and more….
Group B was judged by Paul and his choice was won by a black American cocker from Newport owned by Hannah Bedding, Nujax Hey Mickey this boy was bred by Jaxson & Amy Manser (Nujax) and has a CC to credit.
Of course this made history for this competition as the two groups have not been won by the same breed before!
Res in group B was the standard poodle dog Funkypp Dashing Affair owned and bred by Katrina Allegretti from Llangedwyn, incidentally two others from this litter had also qualified for this event.
With many people ringside the two American cockers entered the ring for the exhilarating finale to be made jointly by the Judges. The atmosphere was electric as Paul and Maria deliberated and the two dogs were once again judged, Paul announced the winner to a huge cheer of support and excitement as the particolour ‘Mischtikals Texas’.
Report by: Zara Boyle
