Halefield Stud 7th April 2019

Post date: May 27, 2019 4:22:47 PM

Another good days racing yesterday at Halefield Stud hosted by Fenland Firestorm Flyball Club. Rocksteady Madness did brilliantly to achieve a 2nd place finish and Rocksteady Mojos just missed out on 3rd place finishing 4th in their division.

The day was a very special one for another reason however as it marked Merlin's (pictured below with his owners Mick and Mary) retirement from open racing on his 13th birthday.

Merlin started his Flyball career in 2007 racing with High Flyers and achieved his 1st award (Flyball Dog) at Newark on the 16th February 2008.

In subsequent years Merlin raced with Northants Falcons, Knebworth Twisters, Go Fours and finally Rocksteady who he joined in January 2016. During these years the awards continued to mount up culminating with him achieving his Flyball Dog Pearl award with Rocksteady on the 9th July 2016 at Just Dogs Live for reaching 30,000 points, which is one of the highest awards a dog can achieve.

Prior to yesterday Merlin had amassed an amazing total of 34,325 points.

Merlin was also twice a divisional winner at the BFA annual championships in 2009 and 2011 and competed at Crufts in 2011. Merlin has also achieved his Cadet Advanced UKFL award.

To mark this occasion a special presentation was made to Merlin and his owners Mick and Mary by Sharon Allcorn the retiring BFA Chairperson who is a member of High Flyers where Merlin began his career.

This is not the end of Merlin's association with Rocksteady as he will continue to train and compete with our Starter Dogs to act as a mentor and show them the way to future success.