12 Jun Laura Moore Sweeps SAYFC National Sheepdog Final
The Final of this year’s SAYFC National sheepdog Trials took place by kind permission of NSA at Highlandsheep, Midfearn Farm, Ardgay. This year’s competition was sponsored by ISDS, Gilbertson & Page and Logan Whistles.
Laura Moore’s Finn was in top form, Finn worked well and commanded excellent control over the freshly clipped packet of Cheviots, the course was generally manageable, but the drive and pen proved to be the bogey with some dogs missing gates. The ewes were tricky to pen causing a few unfinished runs. Brechin member Laura had a good pen with just two points deducted which took them into first place with a total score of 81.
Ben McSporran of Peeblesshire ran well with his bitch Ness. Ness ran out and lifted faultlessly, had minor wavers in the fetch and drive and looked like he was setting an extremely high standard as first dog to run. However, the tricky cheviots at the pen resulted in Ben being knocked into second place with 73.
Next to run was Ewan Runciman from Ettrick and Lauderdale with his bitch Meg. Meg ran out well with a good lift. The cheviots were feisty on the fetch and were tricky on the turn around the handler’s feet and this proved to be costly for Euan. Meg then settled the sheep on the cross drive and then penned the sheep well. Unfortunately, Ewan was timed out before being able to complete his shed and finished on 65. Biggar’s Rebecca Clark had a good run with her bitch Floss until getting caught out at the Pen which took her into fourth place. Our final handler in the competition was Mark McQueen from Bower, Mark had a challenging ewe in his packet which unfortunately resulted in a DQ for Mark.
Judge Jimmy Ogston, Scottish ISDS President, was impressed by the standard of the runs and was enthusiastic to see so many talented youngsters taking part in the event.
Thanks to our sponsors for providing some excellent prizes on the day including some specially engraved whistles from Logan Whistles, Top Quality Dog Food from Gilbertson & Page and over £1000 worth of memberships, registrations and subscriptions courtesy of ISDS.
SAYFC would like to thank all the competitors who took part in the competition this year and to all our host trials and helpers throughout the run who made the competition such a success.
