Wales seems to be popular ground for the decision of spaniel trials, for
since the Sporting Spaniel Society instituted working tests for “the
handy man” of the varieties of dogs which are used in field sports in
the autumn of 1898 the Principality has been visited some four or five
times. In 1904 Sir Watkin Wynn’s unrivalled coverts in Wynnstay Park
were placed at the service of the Club, and a very successful meeting
was the result, but for the gathering which was held early in December
the Vale of Neath was revisited, Mr. A. T. Williams, the President of
the promoting Society, having invited the Committee to decide the
competitions on his shooting at Gilfach, only a little over a mile from
the flourishing town of Neath. It was to be regretted that the entry was
so meagre, only half-a-dozen owners supporting the stakes; for not since
the trials were started in Mr. Arkwright’s park near Chesterfield had
better ground been visited, although no fault could be found with that
at Ynisy Gerwn, on the other side of the valley, when the Welsh spaniels
of Mr. A. T. Williams, Mr. W. H. David, and other local breeders, made
so bold a show at one of the largest supported meetings of the series.
The poor entry, by the way, was not caused by lack of interest in the
work of the Club, but, for one reason and another, such men as Mr.
Winton Smith, Mr. J. Alexander, Mr. Charles Watts, and Mr. J. P.
Gardiner, whose spaniels had gained high honours at other trials, were
prevented from sending dogs which had been broken and thoroughly trained
with a view to competing. Then Mrs. H. D. Greene, the wife of the member
for Shrewsbury, who is a great admirer of the Welsh spaniel, had to
withdraw her entries because one of her brace was shot only the day
before the trials when being put through her final facings. That was a
great disappointment to the Shropshire lady, who had hoped to do well
with the representatives of the Longmynd kennel. The conditions of the
competitions were the same as usual, the spaniels being shot over in the
customary sporting manner, while the principal points which were
considered by the judges were scenting power, keenness, perseverance,
obedience, freedom from chase, dropping to shot, style, method of
beating and working to the gun, whether in covert, hedgerow, or in the
open. In the single stakes the spaniels were also expected to retrieve
at command, tenderly, quickly, and right up to the hand. Additional
points, of course, were given for dropping to hand and shot, standing to
game and flushing it at command.
The trials were worked on very sporting lines, and Mr. Williams and his
keeper had certainly spared no trouble in preparing the shoot for the
meeting, rides having been cut through gorse and bracken, while on the
low-lying ground—which could not be worked because of the heavy rain on
the first day—the earths had been stopped. The coverts swarmed with
rabbits, and at the top of the hill on open fields a few hares were
started from their forms and gave the shooters employment as well as
providing capital tests for the spaniels.
As had been the case at all recent meetings, the chief honours were
taken by the spaniels of Mr. C. C. Eversfield, a Sussex owner, and the
best dog at the trials was Velox Powder, a liver-and-white dog of the
old-fashioned English springer type, bred by Sir Thomas Boughey, and
about as useful a dog in the field as any man could have. He took a
positive delight in working rough ground to his owner’s command; he was
absolutely steady to both shot and wing, while as to chasing a legged or
running rabbit, nothing seemed to be further from his thoughts. He quite
outshone all his kennel mates, and in addition to winning the chief
single dog stake, he was awarded the dog championship, that which was
offered for bitches being taken by Denne Ballistite, a daughter of Velox
Powder. Brace and novice honours also went to Mr. Eversfield’s spaniels;
in fact, the only other single dog at the meeting which showed anything
like form was Mr. Arkwright’s Beni Hassan, an alert young spaniel of the
Sussex type, which had been bred by Lord Tredegar. She was very nicely
handled by Gaunt, who is so well known in connection with the Sutton
pointers at the spring and autumn trials. The pick of the teams were the
Welsh spaniels of Mr. A. T. Williams, and no finer work was seen during
the meeting than that which they put in on the second day, when set the
task of beating a patch of young gorse. They faced it unflinchingly, the
English team sent from Hampshire by Mr. Warwick having to be almost
forced into it, and even then it was all too evident that their task was
distasteful. In rough covert it was once more shown that Welsh spaniels
are unrivalled.
Further trials were held under the management of the Spaniel Club on Mr.
Fydell Rowley’s estate near St. Neots in Christmas week. They promised
to be a great success, judged by the good entry which was received by
Mr. John Cowell.