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The 29th Pedigree stakes finals took place at The Atrium Concourse at the NEC in Birmingham on the 26th January. As always it’s a very prestigious event which brings together the top champion and veteran dogs plus the top junior handlers who won a place at the finals by winning their semi-final class at Richmond in September.
The veterans were judged in the large white picketted ring by Andrew Brace. He chose Gavin and Sarah Robertson’s petit basset griffon vendeen, Ch/Am Ch Afterglow Woody Woodpecker as the winner. It seemed a very popular choice with the spectators too, each side of the ring was packed with onlookers four rows deep! Gavin himself was a very successful junior handler, he started out in beagles and gave CC’s in the breed at a very early age. Sarah has also graced these finals before, not as a veteran of course, but as a past winner of the Junior Handler of the Year finals, in 1990 handling a soft coated wheaten terrier.
Commentator Graham Hill then introduced each junior finalist into the ring, handling their first choice of breed. Only two or three handlers had observed where the judge, Jack Bispham was standing, at ringside, so many had broken the golden rule of handling (getting in between the dog and the judge) even before the judge had walked into the ring. As each handler’s dog was assessed individually on the table or floor by Mr Bispham, the commentator told us a few interesting things about each handler such as their ambitions, their favourite subjects at school or college and where they live. Charlotte Dalgarno with her pbgv, who was the youngest competitor, said she wanted to work with the RSPCA and become a welfare officer. And we were told that Amelia Whipps who was handling a papillon enjoys growing crystals.
All the finalists this year were young ladies, who all had made a concerted effort to look smart in their trouser suits this year colours were a lot less understated, blacks, browns and deep purples seemed the favourites. However Danielle Regan really shone out with her turquiose trouser suit which offset the coat colour of her pyrenean mountain dog very well. Long hair was either tied up into a bun or pony tail however Ceri Oxman, handling a german wirehaired pointer, had cleverely plaited two sides of the hair and joined it together at the back, very pretty and neat. Some handlers had long fringes hanging down over the face or had not bothered to tie the hair back at all which spoilt the overall clean cut look with the outfit. Almost all handlers used armbands to hold their ring card number, the few that didn’t used a clip on the front pocket of their suit jacket instead.
A mention has to go to the Rose family whose youngsters have graced the handling world for the past decade. It was the end of an era for them as Heather who had qualified with her GWP, was the final handler to feature in the competition before her age made her ineligible. Heather was runner-up last year. Hannah won the final in 2005 and was also finalist in 2004. Adam never featured in the junior handler of the year finals, he came very close in 2003 at the semi’s at Richmond when I gave him a second in a class of 48 handlers. The winner that day, Kate Vincent went onto win the overall title in January 2004. At Crufts 2000, Adam won KCJO Show Handler of the Year, the KCJO Gundog stakes and was awarded the Shaun McAlpine Trophy for Junior Handler of the Year so still not done hard by!!
Back to the 2007 final and the judge asked each handler to perform a triangle and once up and down. Mr Bispham occasionally moved his position on the ‘up and down’ to see if the handlers ‘changed hands’ successfully and all of them did. After assessing all the handlers individually, the judge took one final look on the line-up and then he picked a shortlist of six who would then swap dogs with one of the veteran stakes competitors. The finalists were Hannah Escott, Toni Gillman, Georgia Gray, Heather Rose, Page Allen and Amelia Whipps.
All the finalists vacated the ring and then Page Allen with her australian shepherd was asked to come back into the ring to be presented with the Treetops Shield. This award is for the junior handler who has qualified the most times for the Richmond semi-finals. For the first time, for as long as I can remember, it had gone to someone different other than Charlotte Nickel with her cavalier king charles spaniel. Charlotte had become almost synominous with the Treetops Shield! Page then performed a lap of honour then left the ring.
Whilst we waited for the 6 handlers to meet and greet their new dogs in the waiting room, dog trainer and performer Mary Ray and her 12 month old shetland sheepdog, Ozzy, carried out a demonstration of how to teach a dog dancing tricks using clicker training. It certainly got a few laughs when she demonstrated how to show a dog in the ring without using a lead, instead a stick with a yellow ball on the end. I can’t see that becoming a normality in the show ring!! Then we all fell about laughing when Pedigree’s Breeder manager, Neil Thompson became an unfortunate guinea pig for Mary as he tried to practice what we had learnt on Levi, a 2 year old border collie. Lets put it this way, the dog was much more balanced than he was! The whole break certainly livened up the atmosphere ready for the six handlers with their new charges.
The finalists were introduced back into the main ring, this time with a different breed. Hannah had changed from a soft coated wheaten terrier to an english springer spaniel, Toni had changed from a lhasa apso to a dalmatian, Georgia swopped from a whippet to a standard poodle, Heather went from a german wirehaired pointer to pomeranian, Page swopped from an australian shepherd to a bichon frise and Amelia went from a papillon to a saluki.
Some really didn’t look comfortable with the change of breed, they moved the dog at the correct pace but didn’t stretch the dog out enough in the show pose. Others though excelled with their new breed, in particular Amelia with her new found Saluki, Hannah and the english spaniel spaniel and Page with the bichon.
Mr Bispham then went over each dog again and asked for an up and down and then they moved round the ring to the end of the line.
All handlers then left the ring to return with their original dogs and the judge then stood back to make his decision. Soon enough though, the place cards were being brought out and Mr Bispham was walking over towards 11 year old Page Allen, who took first place. Page looked shocked, shed a tear then realised what she had done and bounded over to the winners spot with Jacob, the australian shepherd. She was closely followed in the runner-up spot by Georgia Gray with her whippet, 3rd was 17 year old Hannah Escott handling a soft coated wheaten terrier, 4th Heather Rose, 5th Toni Gillman and 6th Amelia Whipps.
As the winner, Page will now represent the UK at the International Handler of the Year finals at Crufts. She also won £150 prize money, a £250 Pedigree voucher and a Crystal Lidded Chalice. It didn’t take people long to start talking about how Page could be the youngest ever winner. According to JHA organiser Liz Cartledge, a 6-11 year representative certainly hasn’t won the title since 1994. Then it was confirmed that no one has ever won the Treetops shield and won the overall title in the same year so Page has definitely broken that record!!!
11 year old Page only has until July till she grows out of the 6-11 year age group, then she will have to compete directly with her sister Jodi in the 12-16 years age group. Page has been handling since the age of 8, loves football and is a Manchester United supporter.
2 year old Jacob the australian shepherd lives at home with the Allen family and seven rottweilers. Page’s mum, told me, Jacob thinks he is a rottweiler sometimes!!! The sisters have a verbal arrangement about the use of Jacob, Page is allowed to use him in handling whilst Jodi shows him in the breed. In fact, there is a very strong and friendly friendship between the two sisters despite competing against each other all the time in handling. Page admits she looks up to Jodi, in her handling and that they look out for each other.
The black pin striped suit which Page wore, is actually a hand-me-down from ex junior handler Amy Bennett so Page has now dubbed it her ‘lucky suit’. The white shirt she wore is her sisters and that had to be altered too! Page told me after the competition that she was ‘ecstatic’ to have won the title and feels very ‘clever’. She honestly believed that the judge was walking over to Heather or Amelia before her! She said she loved handling the bichon in the swap-over and had picked out that one to handle while looking through the dog papers the night before. So she couldn’t believe her luck when Mrs Cartledge said ‘Page, Bichon’!
Page reckons she wants to handle either a bichon, australian shepherd or a pointer at the international finals in March. But for now, she’s just enjoying being named Pedigree Junior Handler of the Year!
Report by Marina Scott (nee White)
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