Ireland Ballywalter Game and Country Living Fair yesterday Saturday 5th

[racer14 0]

thats no pure whippet

[flash3241 32]

Well done ur sharp on the mark there racer this is the over final that's y its not a ped whippet I didn't think the showing was that bad as the over all lurcher was a cracking looking dog an for dessies terrier u couldn't fault an the whippet was nice 2 but ur dog mustnt of been picked that's y u huffing an big well done 2 rose on doin the jugding and gettin the under 21inch an deirdre with pairs for reserve there's still gears in her yet I still wouldn't want my dog in the same heat as her. Can't wait to c pics of the racing shots

[AlbertJ 569]

Had a great day dogs done well mine was tha black dog in the final the brother had the red dog as reserve champion well done to dessy who won it

 

Well done - as I said earlier from outside the ring - always a poor place to judge from - I liked the red dog. Really smart looking terrier in great condition. All three dogs in the final were a credit to their owner.

[racer14 0]

sorry i thought that ws a pic of the whippet winner

[AlbertJ 569]

Why was a non ped aloud to race in the whippet race.the whole show was talking about it .

 

Which 'non ped' was that?

the one that won the whippet racing

 

Well that one is down to me. Matt asked me to decide on whether three dogs could run in the purebred whippet race. Short of DNA testing or a knowledge of the breeding this is a thankless and almost impossible test. I made it on the basis of :

1. I have judged whippets at KC shows in BIS and variety classes.

2. I had been toying with getting a whippet and I have been watching them at both types of shows.

3. Two I felt were obvious decisions the third was marginal. As I said to the owner if I was judging whippets I wouldn't be putting it up - but when I judge other dogs I see many that I wouldn't be putting up i.e. too small, too big and for other reasons.

4. As I said it was a marginal decision and fell on the side of allowing it to run as a whippet when the owner assured me that the Sporting Whippet Club had accepted it as a pure bred whippet.

 

As I say it was an honest decision right or wrong but only the owner/breeder really know whether it is pure bred or not.

 

Albertj

[AlbertJ 569]

thought the whole day was crap the lurcher showing was crap terrier showing was crap the racing was crap i should've stayed in bed ffs and the whole day was a rip of

 

Yes I think you should have stayed in bed!

[winner69 25]

Why was a non ped aloud to race in the whippet race.the whole show was talking about it .

 

Which 'non ped' was that?

the one that won the whippet racing

was that harper had the non-ped ?is that one of the 2 he got from martin tucker and he got rid of the one with the hairy tail? it was the talk of the show,its now public knowlege that he is a cheat,why cant he be stopped?because he is billy harper! racing was a shambles,disgrace how many dogs got to distroy races with fighting,or the results would have been very different.

[Carraghs Gem 1,714]

seem to be mixed reviews on ballywalter, couldnt make it up myself, hopefully any problems will be ironed out by time we get to birr as im looking forward to birr

[AlbertJ 569]

Why was a non ped aloud to race in the whippet race.the whole show was talking about it .

 

Which 'non ped' was that?

the one that won the whippet racing

was that harper had the non-ped ?is that one of the 2 he got from martin tucker and he got rid of the one with the hairy tail? it was the talk of the show,its now public knowlege that he is a cheat,why cant he be stopped?because he is billy harper! racing was a shambles,disgrace how many dogs got to distroy races with fighting,or the results would have been very different.

 

Winner,

I think you are being unfair to the two matts on the organisation of the racing. How on earth can any organising team know what dogs will do before they line up. What happened can not be put down to the organisers but rather the owners of the dogs involved.

 

With regards to the whippet involved I was asked to make a decision and on the basis above I made a decision. If you knew me you would realise that I would have made the same decision whoever owned the dog. And I made it clear to the owner it was a very difficult decision. I received assurances which tilted the balance. If I find those assurances to be false then I will ensure that our organisers re-classify this dog this dog in future.

[AlbertJ 569]

seem to be mixed reviews on ballywalter, couldnt make it up myself, hopefully any problems will be ironed out by time we get to birr as im looking forward to birr

 

CG,

 

I made a point of seeing as much as I could of this part of the show. I thought the Glenbank Club had improved their organisation and should be congratulated on it. And it was a personal delight to meet our young enthusiast 'Young Man'. I have three sons myself and I love to see kids enthusiastic about their animals and sport.

 

Massive number of cars in the terrier and lurcher car park and a great entry of lurchers. The terriers had a top judge in Barrie Wade and I cannot see how anyone could complain about the quality of the three finalists. The runners up were very sporting in their acceptance of the decision.

 

There were a couple of PSNI officers present which some people found 'off putting' - I later found out that they were simply interested in the dogs - not there on more 'official' duties.

 

The racing was marred by a bit of bumping in a couple of races. As I have said this also happens in regulated grey hound racing. I have sympathy with the owners whose dogs were affected but difficult to legislate against. Ideas welcome.

 

The thorny question of 'what is a pure bred whippet' came up. I dealt with this on the basis I outlined above.

 

Other than these few problems with the racing I didn't see anything that needed attention and these problems are not unique to Ballywalter. We have a different organising team at Birr who no doubt will have similar problems - if you or anyone else can suggest 'how they could be ironed out' we will certainly look at it.

 

Otherwise it was a good event, with which I was happy, the fair moved forward both in terms of attractions, stands, crowds and prize money and even managed to avoid the huge showers which delivered hail stones on one side and flooding on the other only five miles equidistant and before Birr we move forward to my 50th fair at Shanes Castle on the 7th & 8th July, fully confident it will be the best Irish Game Fair ever.

 

Albertj

[winner69 25]

Why was a non ped aloud to race in the whippet race.the whole show was talking about it .

 

Which 'non ped' was that?

the one that won the whippet racing

was that harper had the non-ped ?is that one of the 2 he got from martin tucker and he got rid of the one with the hairy tail? it was the talk of the show,its now public knowlege that he is a cheat,why cant he be stopped?because he is billy harper! racing was a shambles,disgrace how many dogs got to distroy races with fighting,or the results would have been very different.

 

Winner,

I think you are being unfair to the two matts on the organisation of the racing. How on earth can any organising team know what dogs will do before they line up. What happened can not be put down to the organisers but rather the owners of the dogs involved.

 

With regards to the whippet involved I was asked to make a decision and on the basis above I made a decision. If you knew me you would realise that I would have made the same decision whoever owned the dog. And I made it clear to the owner it was a very difficult decision. I received assurances which tilted the balance. If I find those assurances to be false then I will ensure that our organisers re-classify this dog this dog in future.

dont get me wrong albert the day started brillant the kids had a greta time around the fair and although we missed the childrens handling we come home with some rossetes for are dogs the judges done a great job, but what im saying is that everone was talking about this dog being a greyhound cross whippet and no-one had the courage to comfort him,apparently the borther to this dog is knocking about so ask him if he is willing to DNA test the 2 as im sure the other owner wouldnt mind.

[winner69 25]

seem to be mixed reviews on ballywalter, couldnt make it up myself, hopefully any problems will be ironed out by time we get to birr as im looking forward to birr

gem, the showing was great,judgeing great,the racing was upsetting,id say there are alot of dissapointed owners this morning,who's dogs didnt get a fair run.

[winner69 25]

i had also the notion that the reason that there was so many dogs not chasing the lure was because it was nothing like the real thing a hide wouldnt have gone a miss.

[borntorace 0]

winner 69, u say Billy got 2 whippets from martin tucker and got rid of one? i personally know the breeding of his whippet and it is not one purchased from martin tucker, if ur that sure ask tucker urself. just because the whippet won the racing everyone is claiming hes a cheat? and who is "talking about this dog being a greyhound cross whippet and no-one had the courage to comfort him"? as far as i know the only people getting their knickers in a twist over this whole thing are the ones that are being beat. there was nothin said when the whippet wasnt winning races!

[flash3241 32]

Its the same as everythin in the lurcher racing if ur dog wins ur the biggest wanker that walked