Derek Scrimgeour takes victory at Deerplay

The judge was the winner of last year’s championship, David Wood from Derwent. All 82 dogs ran to the right, where the long gather carried 30 points. There were a lot of redirections and many handlers lost points by letting the sheep drift off line on the last leg of the drive.

Ben Smith and Guto went to the top with a decent early run around the steep hill course on rough ground, with 73 points, but were overtaken later by Charles Cutler with Ben on 74.

However, the winners were Derek Scrimgeour and Fleece on 83 points. Taking a good line on the outrun, two points were lost for redirection, one from the lift, and two each off the fetch and the drive, before a clean pen.

Shirley Cropper gained third place with Lily on 73 points.

Six Cheviots were a better number to pen in the double gather championship on Sunday. The cut-off point to qualify was 65 points, determined on outrun, lift and fetch. The Cheviots worked consistently throughout both days, with good running in the championship, possibly the best seen at Deerplay.

Five of the placed runs came from the first six runs, with the other placed run, Shirley Cropper and Lily, running just before last.

Derek Scrimgeour ran Fleece first, setting a good standard and gaining 134 points out of a possible 160. Alf Kyme then gained 140 points with Sally, but at six, Chloe Cropper took her second Deerplay title with the black and white, rough-coated Roy.

With good outfield work from many dogs, 18-year-old Chloe’s outstanding run was remarkable for the clean finish in the shed, pen and single. Roy had one point off the first left-hand gather, one off the lift, six points off the end of the fetch for turning the dog back

early, before the sheep were fully over the dyke. Four were lost from the second outrun. A clean lift, an odd point off the second fetch, and good driving, losing just two points, led to score 145 points.

Cornwall

The Cornwall Society’s Trewarthinick and Tregony trials had a change of venue from the normal field to a slightly smaller parkland field, which proved tricky as there was a ditch running through the field with only two crossing points.

The fetch was on a dog-leg up to one crossing point, and the drive was back through the second crossing point, with a pull-back through the fetch gates. It proved hard to hit as sheep were drawn towards the trees behind for some shade in the hot weather.

The unshorn Dorset ewe lambs were difficult for younger, more inexperienced dogs. A chute was used rather than a Maltese cross as the sheep were not used to being worked in small packets.

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