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would send a dog off into the darkness after a wounded duck. You would just let the dog sort it out himself. You knew he was successful when you heard wings flapping and a duck quacking.

One day Talbot and myself were out rough shooting in a marshy area with Stat. The cover was about as close to American trial cover that you would see in Wales. A cock pheasant got up. I shot it, but only broke its wing. I sent Stat. He hit the fall circled the area and then disappeared into the marsh grass. Talbot said, "You'll just have to wait for him to come back." We both just stood there and waited for what seemed a long time. I expect it was 5 or 10 minutes in reality. Talbot saw Stat first. He was coming from some distance up the marsh with a live cock pheasant in his mouth. After Stat delivered the pheasant to me Talbot said that dog is ready for America. I agreed. He was working like a spaniel that could win a National. As I recall he was only 13 or 14 month old, but looked like a 3-4 year old American trial dog in the manner that he hunted. We contacted Jack Riepenhoff to say I would be bringing his dog just before the American National Championships. He thought the dog was a bit young, but accepted our judgment.

Obviously I was very pleased to come back to Columbus, Ohio with an outstanding prospect for Jack. I reckoned if I entered Stat in an American trial I would have a decent chance of winning straight away. A few days after our arrival I went out to Jack's Idle R Farm for a training session. I thought everyone would be most impressed with Stat. A few pigeons were planted. I cast Stat off and immediately thought he is only running about 75% normal speed. He didn't scent any birds until he was right on top of them and then mismarked the retrieve. I was totally embarrassed by his performance. I was getting ready to say to Jack that normally Stat performs much better than this. Jack came up to me and before I could say anything said to me, "Stat is the most advanced dog I've ever had from Great Britain." Almost 12 months to the day Jack contacted Talbot and myself to let us know Stat was an Open Field Trial Champion having won 3 open stakes on consecutive weekends. Stat was the first of many Saighton's dogs that I trained at Presaddfed that went on to become Field Trial Champions. You could count on it to take 12 months in America before any of them started to compete at their true potential no matter how advanced they were while at Presaddfed.

I have many memories of my time at Presaddfed some good and some not so good. Many of my fondest memories come from my early days at Presaddfed. In the early days rough shooting ground with native game was plentiful. The team of gamekeepers was of the highest professional standard. Gerald Ward the head keeper made sure everything was managed properly and to the highest standard. David Jones (of Strong Kennels fame) and Gwyn Price were the two young under keepers who were as dedicated and hard working as ever you could find. As years passed David and Gwyn moved on, the rough shooting became less and less, finally when Gerald left, and the devastation of parvovirus hit the golden days at Presaddfed had passed.



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