Working Gundog Association of Australia WGAA: WA Pointer & Setter National Field Trial (Closed Season) 1/6/08

The inaugural Western Australian Pointer & Setter National Field Trial, Closed Season (CS), was held in the Meckering area, east of Perth. The judge for this prestigious event was the well known Victorian pointer & setter personality, Bill Cross. The event was organised by the Working Gundog Association of WA (Inc), the SSAA's Gundog group in the West. Sponsorship for the event came from the SSAA National, SSAA WA and Rosendorff Jewellers, Perth.

The National was one event in a long weekend of 4 CS trials which commenced on Friday and went through to the following Monday - a tough programme for bird dogs who had to show great endurance to compete consistently over such a programme. Dogs cover many kilometres at top speed in each heat, and some dogs ran up to 3 heats each day - often in quite warm conditions, no easy task!

The National event was the third in a series of 4 trials. The form dog of the programme was the pointer dog; Koram Kris at Innistona (Imp Ire) (Major) owned and handled by Henry Foster. Major had left his opposition far behind in the previous two events and was looking unbeatable.

Field trialling commenced in the 1850's, and the basic requirements have remained unaltered over the past century and a half - winning dogs should show style, dominant game finding ability, speed and good field manners. Major's performance on the day of the National left no-one in doubt that he had met these criteria and by late in the day when there were only 2 compulsory retrieves left to perform he made no mistake - a clear winner on the day.

Runner up was the local dog, Alan Willey's pointer bitch Ywurrie Rani (Abbey), a very stylish dog who showed great endeavour over the 4 days of trialling, and today was no exception. Lacking only the number of finds produced by Major, Abbey was a worthy second place getter. No third place was awarded.

Over the weekend both Major and Abbey were awarded their WGAA Field Champion (CS) titles.

Overall results from the WA National weekend were:
Friday 30th May. Jack Pontin Memorial Pointer & Setter CS field trial: Winner H&L Foster's pointer dog WGAA F Ch Koram Kris at Innistona (Imp Ire) NFTW (CS). Runner up A&V Willey's pointer bitch WGAA F Ch (CS) Ywurrie Rani.

Saturday 31st May. Bob Dean Memorial Pointer & Setter CS field trial: Winner H&L Foster's pointer dog WGAA F Ch Koram Kris at Innistona (Imp Ire) NFTW (CS).

Sunday 1st June. National CS Pointer & Setter field trial: Winner: H&L Foster's pointer dog WGAA F Ch Koram Kris at Innistona (Imp Ire) NFTW (CS). Runner up A&V Willey's pointer bitch WGAA F Ch (CS) Ywurrie Rani.

Monday 2nd June. WA State Pointer & Setter field trial Championship (CS): Winner B&K Oliver's pointer bitch, Wingfield Dame. Runner up A&V Willey's pointer bitch, WGAA F Ch (CS) Ywurrie Rani.

Major - 3 time winner