Cotswold Open 2018

Cotswold Open 2018

 

Held on the same ground as the International last year this testing course with an outrun of 1100 yards to the right proved a very challenging one. Todd running second on the day ran out confidently and taking 4 commands on the move, arrived to find a single ewe had separated. He returned her to the flock before a good fetch, with a handler error after negotiating the bridge, as to the correct line. Running on 10 fresh Suffolk crosses all day, the rest of the course was straightforward, with tidy lines good shed and pen. The sheep were consistent all day, though perhaps the heat did make them a little heavier in the afternoon.

Cody, running in the mid-afternoon sun again ran out well, with 5 whistles on the move. The fetch was the worst of our elements with the sheep pulling strongly to their right and Cody not quite flanking enough to straighten them up onto the correct line. The hardest part was returning the sheep to the bridge to continue the fetch. Young Cody, for the first time, was challenging and needed strong persuasion to trust me. Thereafter his performance was, as it has been all summer, sublime negotiating all the hurdles with good lines and finishing well.

Todd finished 3rd and Cody 6th.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly Tom Huddlestone with Ola who put up a memorable run. This dog is an absolute class above the rest on big courses and was a deserved winner. James Dumbleton with Sid was runner-up with a good run late on. James and Sid showed up very well at Deerplay earlier this month.

Big thanks to Dick Roper for giving us the chance to run on this amazing course after our appetites were wet following the International. It was sad not to see Ricky there, who I believe was celebrating his birthday, but I think many of us were celebrating far more!

Results

1 Tom Huddleston – Ola

2 James Dumbleton – Sid

3 Nij Vyas  – Todd

4 Tim Longton  – Roy

5 Kelvin Broad – Levi

6 Nij Vyas -Cody