A good course and a secure pen, a rare achievement on a difficult day, gave Alexander Kent and Cass their first open win, at Ardlamont.

The Blackface gimmers behaved reasonably well on the flat course, but they were very difficult to pen. Very few dogs managed to enclose the sheep, and of those that did, fewer still made a good shed.

Cass (N Manning’s Dave and Jess) worked well on the course, with minor wavers and wide turns, but she got her obstacles and distinguished herself with a successful pen. The pair took time to shed and once the division was made, they showed their inexperience in their failure to establish full control over the sheep, but on a difficult day, their solid achievement earned first place.

Neil McVicar’s Mist (R Hutchinson’s Sweep, IM Brownlie’s Mo) had a fairly similar run, but when Mist missed her cue to come in to shed, the job had to be retaken and the run claimed second place, ahead of a closely packed list.

A rerun at Doon Valley saw a fine run from Fraser Shennan’s Mia put her ahead of Chloe Cropper’s Fly.

The Blackface gimmers ran well on the uphill course, but were inclined to bolt down the course from the top if dogs failed to give them space at the lift.

Two fairly similar runs, with minor points dropped at various elements, but no holes standing out in the work put the two bitches in contention for first place.

Mia (JR Welsh’s Tanhill Nap, FW Shennan’s Fizz) took the sheep round the course with neat turns while Fly (A Lyttle’s Spot, IB Jones’ Meg) distinguished herself by keeping the gimmers flowing round the course.

The big, strong cross Mule and Texel cross gimmers at Dryden had to be pushed round the uphill course, but if dogs were fit for that, the sheep behaved well. They were not readily penned and stuck together at the shed, making it hard to see a gap to work with. Handlers found the cross drive gate difficult to judge, and most packets tended to miss it.

David Henderson’s Burndale Brad (R Dalziel’s Spot, D Henderson’s May) worked well outbye and the drive went well, until the gimmers slipped by the cross drive gate. Good work at hand completed the winning run.

The Irish National came to an exciting conclusion, when, for the first time under the ‘five a day’ system implemented outside Scotland, Allistair Lyttle ran two dogs in the final run off.

Allistair won on days one and two with Scott and Jim, while James McCaffrey took the lead with Mey on the final day.

Under the system, where the top five dogs from each day form the national team, first, second and third places are decided by a run off between the top dogs from each day.

(Second ranked from each day make up fourth, fifth and sixth places, third account for seventh to ninth etc, and this explains apparent disparity between scores and team places, as some days produced higher scores than others.)

Leading awards

Fort Augustus (Judge: A Wilkie, Lintrathen) Open – 63 ran – 1, P Martin’s Jill, Glenlyon, 96; 2, SL Davidson’s Gillieglen Queen, Sandbank, 95 Time; 3, EC MacKinnon’s Buddy, Lochcarron, 95; 4, C Davidson’s Cap, Sandbank, 94; 5, L Magnusson’s Kate, Mid Derry, 92; 6, J Lamont’s Craig, Portree, 89. Confined - 1, J MacKillop’s Joe, Fort Augustus, 85; 2, J MacKillop’s Straid Sam, Fort Augustus, 84; 3, M MacNally’s Finn, Invergarry, 78; £800 raised for Cancer Research.

Doon Valley (Judge: I Fleming, Douglas) Open – 65 ran – 1, F Shennan’s Mia, Barr, 91 Run off; 2, C Cropper’s Fly, Drimsynie, 91; 3, A Stewart’s Ollie, Lockerbie, 89 Outbye; 4, GC Gardner’s Moss Lesmahagow, 89; 5, W Welsh’s Cap, Dalcairney, 86 Outbye; 6, JR Welsh’s Tanhill Sam, Dalrymple, 86; 7, W Welsh’s Joe, Dalcairney, 85 Outbye; 8, T Welsh’s Don, Patna,85 ; 9, G Carnochan’s Fleet, Coylton, 84; 10, A Temple’s Flint, Holmrook,83. Local – 1, W Welsh’s Joe, Dalcairney, 85; 2, J Welsh jnr’s Nell, Beoch, 83; 3, A McCulloch’s Risp, Dalmellington, 55; 4, I Robertson’s Bill, Carsphairn.

Dryden (Judge: JB Foster, Earlston) Open – 60 ran – 1, D Henderson’s Burndale Brad, Allendale, 88; 2, RB Henderson’s Skid, Heriot, 87 Outbye; 3, A Jardine’s Elsie, Langholm, 87; 4, E Gray’s Tweeddale Jamie, Great Elsdon, 84; 5, J Hastie’s Lethans Bear, Saline, 83 Outbye; 6, J Hill’s, Sid, Heriot, 83.

Ardlamont (Judge: J MacKilllop, Fort Augustus) Open – 44 ran –1, A Kent’s Cass, Dunoon, 84; 2, N McVicar’s Mist, Benmore, 83; 3, A Kennedy’s Drift, Glendaruel, 82 Outbye; 4, C Cropper’s Fly, Drimsynie, 82; 5, C Davidson’s Cap, Sandbank, 81 Outbye; 6, A MacCuish’s Tweed, Skipness, 81; 7, R Middleton’s Jake, Dalry, 80. Local - 1, D McVicar’s Roy, Kilfinnan; 2, D MacRae’s Jack, Ardlamont; 3, K Crawford’s Fly Millhouse.

Irish National – 1, A Lyttle’s Scott, 198 /200 run-off; 2, A Lyttle’s Jim, 204; 3, J McCaffrey’s Mey, 198; 4, F McCullough’s Cap, 198; 5, J Cremin’s Sally, 192; 6, T Lambe’s Ben, 182; 7, M Feeney’s Jack, 190; 8, M O’Malley’s Gwenno, 178; 9, E McAuley’s Roy, 178; 10, J Rooney’s Taff, 188; 11, K McFadden’s Star, 175; 12, D McAuley’s Jan, 168; 13, M Hopkins’ Dale, 188; 14, P Concannon’s Sweep, 173; 15, M Burke’s Tiny, 167; Res, M O’Malley’s Groesfaen Jock, 182. Brace –1, D Birchall’s Peggy & Tweed, 220 /280; 2, S Long’ Roy & Jaybeez Broozer, 214.