Gold Star For This HPR

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DESPITE MY intention to go to the HPR Championship at Elveden, I failed to make it. An old knee injury flared up, making walking painful, so I decided reluctantly that tramping along in the spectators’ gallery wouldn’t be much fun. As it turned out, I’m sure I made a wise decision. Friends who went reported that the first day was dire. I gathered that only 11 birds were seen and just three or four shot, hardly giving even the best dogs the chance to show their worth. It was not, to quote one friend, “a good PR exercise for HPR field trials”.

On the second day, the dogs were hunting the wind breaks — the long lines of Scots pines planted many years ago across what was then heathland. There were, fortunately, sufficient birds for all the remaining dogs to be tested on their ability to point and retrieve, even if judging their hunting style was difficult as much of their work took place in thick cover. Fortunately, the judges, Rita Dockwray-Howard and Jean Robertson, saw enough to declare GeoffSaint’s French-bred Hungarian wirehaired vizsla, Hourra Du Domain St Hubert, the 16th HPR Champion.

Rivalling the GSP

This is the second year in a row that a Hungarian wirehaired vizsla (HWV) has won the championship. Last year it was Adrian Blackledge’s FTCh Kerride Henry. Adrian was also runner-up in 2016 with another HWV,