Cocker Spaniel Championship 2020

The Cocker Spaniel Championship is one of the key events in the field trial calendar. Ellena Swift watched all the dogs in action

The 90th Cocker Spaniel Championship was held by very kind permission of the Landon family at the amazing Faccombe Estate.

The estate itself is made up of mixed farming and the shooting operation. Impressively, the estate is known as having the only wind turbine in the North Wessex Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, helping to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

The shoot itself is ranked in the top five per cent in the country and did a spectacular job as hosts for this prestigious event. The head keeper, Bob Heaver, was supported by a fantastic team over the two days but one member of the team worked harder than most.

Beatkeeper Jonny Macey had sole responsibility for looking after the ground and the birds that were used. The ground was maintained but saved purely for these two days and not used on any other shoot day. So the pressure was on for this aspiring young man and he came through impressively. The birds produced over the two days were consistent, strong and well spread around the grounds.

In total, 44 dogs qualified for and started the event. There was a good mix of handlers, with some extremely experienced individuals, such as Ian and Wendy Openshaw. Between them they were handling five dogs and, as always, demonstrated some extremely good dog work.

I was lucky to get some time to chat to the judges before the final day started. Four knowledgeable gentlemen judged at the event and they did a great job of giving each dog plenty of opportunities to show to its best over the two days.

Martin Ford and Martin Deakin described the first day as challenging for all the dogs. It brought those top dogs up and separated them from the rest who, just in places, weren’t quite as polished as they needed to be.