Pike ahead of the pool

GOOD work, outbye and at hand, put Norman MacDonald’s Pike ahead of the pool at Boreland of Anwoth.

Texel cross hoggs were good to handle round the course, which was set on a rising slope, but they could be challenging to separate at the shed. Pike (E Gray’s Telf Joffe and Scalpsie Nesse) ran out and lifted cleanly. He fetched the sheep to Norman on a good line and worked well on the first leg of the drive, putting them safely through the gates and on to the cross drive, but the hoggs gathered pace and went slightly off line.

Despite Norman and Pike working hard to put them through the cross drive gate, the hoggs just missed them, but a good pen and shed contributed to a winning run.

Alasdair Mundell’s Yitte (FPM Groot’s Pen-Y-Borough Kev, J Croiman’s Jill) ran out well, and lifted the sheep in a controlled manner. Yitte fetched on a good line, with only minor deviations and had a very good drive and pen, but difficulty at the shed put Ytte into second place.

The young dogs at Springhill struggled to hear commands over the wind and found that the cheviot hoggs tended to run down the fetch and dogs fought to drive them into the wind on the first leg of the drive on a flattish field that rose from left to right.

Julie Hill’s Jiggs (J Hill’s Kep and Mollie) started out wide from Julie’s feet, but he found his sheep, although he lifted slightly offline and took some time to get them on to the line of the fetch. He made good work of driving them away, although they swerved before they went through the gate with a wide turn. They tested Jiggs on the cross drive, so that the line dipped a little, halfway across, but he got them back and through the gate.

Jiggs worked well to hold the sheep at the mouth of the pen without a break, before he put them safely inside. Approaching the shed, one hogg broke from the packet, before he reunited the lot, but as he split them, he turned from the target pair on to the remainder, but in challenging conditions, a competent run, with all gates achieved, earned first place.

Davie Gilchrist’s Del (S Blaikie’s Mainstay Ross and Bailey) started out well, with a clean outrun and lift, but the hoggs went off line on the fetch and were not truly on line again until they were at Davie’s feet. The first leg of the drive was going well until the hoggs swung round the gate. The cross drive started well but the hoggs went offline, although Del put them through the gate. Repeated breaks at the pen before Del secured the packet detracted from the work, but a clean shed completed the run in second place.