NBHA National Open Invitational Championship
NBHA Open Invitational Championship
by; Tim Penn
NBHA Open Invitational Championship was held on February 20 at the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, MO. Poosey C.A. has more than 5000 acres, that is divided up of timber edges and managed fields that provide excellent habitat for wildlife. It also makes for an excellent place for a bird dog to test its ability in finding birds.
Champion for this years NBHA Invitational is Fairchase Jiggs, PF, she is owned by Tom Woods of Adair, OK . Jiggs ran in the 3rd brace with a three bird performance. Jiggs ran the edges and maintained a forward search with style and energy. Runner-up was Greypointe Gladiador PM, owned and handled by Doug Meyer from Tonganoxie , KS. Gladiador had a similar performance in the fourth brace to that of the winner, as he also had three finds in his hour.
This years championship was a success due to the fine support of our sponsors, judges, and trial committee.
NBHA sponsors for this event were Tri-Tronics which provided a new electric training collar system to the winner. Black Gold dog feed for providing feed to the winner and runner-up, and caps to all the participants and judges. And Christie Enterprises for providing gift certificates to the winner and runner-up.
Judges for this championship was Gailen Cooper, of Oak Grove, MO. and Chuck Davis of Madrid IA. Chuck is the past NBHA president and he himself has owned and handled a winning champion, and Gailen has had several different champions in his kennels over the past several years. Both of these judges are very knowledgeable about bird dogs and field trials, and we are very thankful for their efforts.
Thanks goes to the North Mo Field Trial Assn. and its membership for their organization and help on hosting this event, and a special thanks to Kevin Western and Charles Beeler as they took care of the bird planting and dog wagon duties.
Weather is always a concern in Missouri during February, as you just can�t predict what you will have. It can be mild and muddy or cold and snowy. This weekend it was cold, snowy, and a heavy cloud cover through out the trial. Scent conditions were good for the most part but walking in the snow did slow the pace of the handlers and some dogs.
This years championship had eleven dogs competing out of 162 dogs that were eligible with NBHA qualifications. The field of eleven were made up of nine pointers and two setters and this provided a broad range of experience among the competitors. Some history information on the dogs that have placed in title stakes are CH Alabama Dixie Go, PF a 3x champion and one time NBHA Amateur Shooting Dog of the year winner, she could be noted as the queen with her years of experience that she brings to the running. CH Wild Covey Heatwave, PM and CH Valedictorian, SM are each 2x champions and they were trying to earn their third championship. Penrosa Knox, SM a 4x Runner-up champion was trying for his first championship title. Dogs with State Classic wins that were competing for a title included Shadows Rockin Robin, PM, Greypointe Fandango, PM, and Greypointe Gladiador, PM. Dogs that have earned their way by placing at local NBHA shooting dog stakes were Greypointe Gloriosa, PF, and Fairchase Jiggs, PF, and they were in hopes of having a big day at this event. Derby�s that had qualified at NBHA trials as they are the future NBHA string of class shooting dogs were Sir Lancelot Blue Jet, PM and last years NBHA Open Derby dog of the year Labur�s Gone Country, PM. Two of the dogs competing have also placed in the NBHA Futurity and they are Labur�s Gone Country, and Greypointe Gladiador.
RUNNING
1st brace Valedictorian, SM ( Dardenne) and Shadow�s Rockin Robin, PM ( Wirth ) Both dogs broke away to the front with Valedictorian establishing the first find at 8 with all in order. At 9 Robin had his first find with Valedictorian backing, good manners for both dogs. At 13 Robin suffered an unproductive. Traveling along the olive shelter break Valedictorian scored finds at 25, 27, and backed Robin again at 29 he went on to have finds at 39,48 and a marked flight at 57. His race was always applied to the front, but was not as strong as the eventual winners. Shadow�s Rockin Robin had several well broke finds at 27, 29, 34 and at 41 and a strong race but was lost at the end.
2nd brace Greypointe Gloriosa, PF ( Meyer ) was braced with Sir Lancelot Blue Jet, PM (Gebhardt) Gloriosa ran into some bad luck with unproductive at 9 and 15, at 18 she had movement which ended her day. Jet had a nice race going with a strong effort to the front and a nice broke find at 9, he went running his edges with great class but was lost going to the front
3rd brace Wild Covey Heatwave, PM ( King ) and Fairchase Jiggs, PF ( Woods ) Jiggs started off with her first find at 6 she then proceeded to the front where she was found backing Heatwave at 16, at this stand no bird was ever found for the Heatwave dog. Jiggs went on searching to the front and had her second find at 42 all in order. At 45 King had called for the tracker to find his Heatwave dog. At 48 Jiggs had struck again for her third find and her style and manners were good once again. She stayed to the front and finished strong running the edges to the end.
4th brace Greypointe Gladiador, PM ( Meyer ) started off at 16 backing Penrosa Knox, SM (Penn) manners were good for both dogs. Knox went on and finished the hour with a good forward race but was unable to add to his find total. Gladiador had finds at 26 and at 34 with good style and manners, he had an unproductive at 42. At 56 Gladiador had his third and final find. At this find he was ask to relocate and cautiously he did so. After an extensive flushing attempt his handler Meyer was able to produce the bird. This provided for an excellent piece of bird work which was witnessed by all in the gallery.
5th brace Alabama Dixie Go, PF ( Wirth) had a good bird finding performance and showing that she knows how to find birds with four broke finds at 6, 26, 33, and 50. She did have an unproductive at 55. Her race was not as strong as the winners maybe due to the heavy snow. Labur�s Gone Country, PM ( Burgard ) is a nice looking young dog of the ground moving. He had a find at 11 and backed Dixie at 26 but faulted on a bird at 40 to end his chances.
6th brace Greypointe Fandango, PM ( Meyer ) was running by himself and found his first bird at 7. He had a stop to flight at 15 and another find at 22. His final find came at 33 when he had to much movement. This had completed the running of the Invitational as we rode back for the annoucement.
