His birthday gift

Press, 12 November 1977, Page 24

His birthday gift

The old master, R. M. Wilson, of Kirwee, won the final of the dog trial again in the ring at the' Royal show yesterday. It was a nice birthday prsent for one of New Zealand’s leading dog trial corm petitors — Mr Wilson was 74 yesterday. He first won in the ring at the Canterbury show in 1933 with Mac, which also won on two more occasions. Altogether he has won the event about 20 times.

Yesterday Wilson competed with Rose, which is nearly 11 years old. It was her fourth victory at the show. She has won three New Zealand titles, plus several island and Canterbury championships.

The judge, Mr W. D. Gebbie (Teddington), described the performance of Wilson and Rose as one of the best he had judged. It was a case of an experienced man and an experienced dog, he said. But in fact all three dogs in the final performed well and the commentator said he doubted whether the over-all standard of the work had ever been better. The sheep were cooperative and this certainly helped. Mr Gebbie said he thought that the sheep were too good and that this meant the public did not really see what the com-

petition was all about. Mr Gebbie said that Wilson scored full points for •Rose’s run-out and for the

pull. Apart from a loss of a point at the yard, he said, he could make slight deductions only for the sheep turning and stopping. In second place was K. C. McConachie, with Dale, aged 2|, who came 580 km from Lochiel, near Invercargill, to take part. He was also in the final about thee years ago with Maude. Dale’s run-out was quite

good, Mr Gebbie said, but the dog did not quite finish the head. A halfepoint was lost for the pull, and one drive incurred a penalty. The rest of the work was excellent.

M. A. Wadsworth, from Blenheim, who has been highly placed in national and "island trials and who was first in the South Island singles and second for New Zealand in the recent television series, was third with three-year-old Cap. Mr Gebbie said that Cap’s run-out was quite good but the sheep had moved and brought the dog in, affecting the pull. The driving was excellent. Placings were: Wilson’s Rose, 961 points 1; McConachie’s Dale, 94|' points, 2; Wadsworth’s Cap, 93 points,