The Kennel Club Novice Agility Stakes is a relatively new event for Large Grade 3, 4 and 5 dogs. Thirteen heats were held at Kennel Club licensed agility shows throughout the year, with over 1,000 dogs competing in each of the qualifying shows. The 58 top dogs from the heats went forward to a Semi Final held at the City of Birmingham Championship Show. The top 35 dogs then returned to compete in the Grand Hall at Olympia on Sunday morning.

Kennel Club Novice Agility Stakes Semi Finals

The course, judged by Graham Partridge, was suitably challenging, with one fence in particular destined to be the nemesis of many competitors. The first 10 placings went on to compete in the Novice Agility Stakes Final in the evening. Placings 10 to 20 were paired up to compete in the Novice Pairs Relay in the afternoon.

First to compete was Gary Murphy with his WSD Ginny, who unfortunately was the first victim of The Snowman (fence 4), just catching the pole before entering the rigid tunnel. A missed contact on the A-frame then saw them out of the running. Next was Kirsty Moyes with three year old WSD Sally, but their long trip from Scotland was ended after a pole down and a refusal. Garry McCormack from Poole with WSD Pepsi fell victim to The Snowman, along with the weaves and a second jump. Stuart Carter's collie Spooks was felled by The Snowman, and also dropped a paw into the long jump.

Tom Green, who works for Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, and WSD Fizz were the first competitors to go forward to the Pairs Relay after picking up five penalties at The Snowman. Kelly Hebden's Kelpie Coen flew around the course to take the first clear round in 33.73 seconds.  Next was Rosie Ison with TV star Chippidy Doo Dah, but they were eliminated after taking the wrong jump out of the tunnel. Student James Denton and his five year old collie were also out of the running after knocking a pole - no prizes for guessing which jump - and missing a weave.  Linda Hutchinson's two year old collie Kizzy qualified for the Pairs after just one mistake at the Snowman, but they did have the quickest time at a sizzling 29.79 seconds.

Collie Detox on his Olympia debut streaked around the course for handler Greg Derrett and looked set to take the second clear, but just knocked a brick out of the wall on the penultimate jump, finishing in 30.62 seconds and qualifying for the pairs. Anne Marigny's Kelpie Afkka also qualified for the Pairs after dropping a leg into the long jump. Shaun Hunt's seven year old collie cross was the second to gain a clear round in 35.39, but just two hundredths of a second robbed them of a placing in the first ten, qualifying for the Pairs instead. A momentary lapse by Helen Perryman saw her six year old collie Polly jump the wrong fence, and they were eliminated. Pat Leggate with four year old collie Belle also went clear, but was placed 11^th and qualified for the Pairs.

Keen WSD Dexy, a two year old rescue dog working for Christine Haynes, showed great promise after qualifying for the Novice Agility in their first season of competitions but, after a missed contact on the dog walk, they were eliminated after Dexy missed out the wall and jumped the last instead. Sam Davies and her two year old collie fell into the Snowman trap, jumping it out of sequence resulting in elimination. Blue Merle collie Jasper showed his eight terrier pack mates a thing or two by taking the next clear round for handler Linda Cummings, qualifying for the final in 35.37 seconds.

At just two years old, and on his Olympia debut, rescue WSD Chi Qui ran a cracking round for Kathrin Tasker, going clear in 33.21 to take third place and qualifying for the final. Also at her first Olympia was collie Bella, but she fell victim to the Snowman and a momentary 'collie moment' with three refusals at the tunnel for handler Susan Mallabar. Marc Wingate-Wynne's collie Wings took the next qualifying clear in 33.90 seconds. Louise Raine and Collie Dare had five penalties on the weaves to qualify for the Pairs. Pat Higgins' collie Bodie successfully cleared the Snowman jump, but then took the weaves out of turn and was eliminated. Ken Wagg and WSD Pip, both at Olympia for the first time, showed exceptionally good control and celebrated Pip's third birthday with a clear in 35.07 seconds. Nicola Garrett's collie Wych had the crowd on the edge of their seats when she slipped on the seesaw after a cracking run, but she managed to cling on and ran clear in 35.21 seconds.

Jenny Lovegrove and collie Deke returned to Reading with 15 faults after clipping the Snowman and two other jumps. Alan Smith and his collie were placed 7^th after a gripping clear round in 34.01 seconds. Maria Johnson's collie Inka was in true vocal form, and barked her way to become the temporary leader, eventually taking second place in 32.84 seconds. Gwen Knox's WSD Robbie ended their long trip from Scotland and Olympia debut with 15 penalties (another Snowman victim), but won the crowd's hearts with his cheeky nature.  Also at Olympia for the first time was Pat Brown's collie Diva, who ran clear and took 4^th place in 33.43 seconds.

Matthew Goodliffe and collie Buddy had the crowd cheering as he whizzed round the course to take first place in 31.87 seconds. Will Rolfe's collie Scout looked to be heading for a clear round on his first time at Olympia, but just clipped fence 15 on his way to the seesaw and qualified for the Pairs.  Two year old collie Lucy with handler Sarah Young were unfortunately eliminated after jumping Father Christmas out of turn, and Fiona Vaughan's hopes of a win were also dashed after WSD DD just clipped fence 15, but qualified for the Pairs. Joanne Tristram's keen Bearded Collie collected 10 penalties after missing a contact on the dog walk and flying off the seesaw, but was a firm favourite with the crowd.  Last to run was Tracy Flower with Blue Merle collie Barbie who streaked around the course but unfortunately picked up five penalties on the weaves.

Final positions for the semi-finals were:-

Eventual winners of the Novice Agility Stakes Final were Kathrin Tasker and Chi Qui. Discovered as an abandoned, underweight puppy in a barn in Wales, he found his way to Gill White's collie rescue centre, The Border Collie Spot, where he was re-homed by Kathrin. After only a few months training he was competing, and quickly won into Grade 5. Winning the Novice Agility Stakes at his first appearance at Olympia is a fabulous achievement, and just goes to show how much any dog can accomplish with a knowledgeable owner and good home environment.

Kennel Club Novice Agility Pairs Relay.

With a near capacity crowd in jubilant mood having just watched the exceptionally challenging FEI Rolex World Cup Qualifier show jumping class, the Novice Agility Pairs Relay was all set to keep the crowd cheering for more.

The first pair were Louise Raine with Dare and Anne Marigny with Afkka. Dare set off at a cracking pace but missed a jump, then went off course and was eliminated. Afkka still ran at top speed and was a hit with the audience, many of whom may not have seen a Kelpie in action before!

Tracey Flower and Barbie were paired with Fiona Vaughan and DD. Blue Merle Barbie had a flying start, but shot past the dog walk straight into the tunnel and was eliminated. DD also missed a weave, but both provided great entertainment for the crowd with gentle ribbing from the commentator.

Tom Green with Fizz was third to run, partnered with Will Rolfe and Scout. Fizz clipped the pole on fence 5 adding five seconds to the time, leaving Scout to recover and run clear with a respectable total time of 70.40 seconds, which was enough to secure second place.

Greg Derrett and Detox ran a clear round with superbly quick weaving. Linda Hutchinson and youngster Kizzy also looked to be going clear but picked up five time points with a missed contact on the dog walk. However, at maximum speed with the crowd cheering them all the way, they recovered to finish with an excellent total time of 69.95 seconds, and went into the lead.

Last to run were Pat Leggate with Amber and Shaun Hunt with seven year old Oakley. Amber nearly repeated Barbie's mistake at the dog walk, but recovered quickly enough just to pick up five time points for a refusal, leaving Oakley to run a solid clear round with a total time of 82.79 seconds and finishing third.

The final results were:-

Pictures: Kit Houghton

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