I can't remember the time or the place but I do remember saying to Will ,

" If David ( Reid ) does breed that litter I would like a pup. "
This is the first time I would admit to having even a passing interest in Pointers. I don't remember who the dam of the pup was but the sire was Innistona Slay (Ghillie) one of a pair of litter brothers that Will owned at the time the other being Duke of Maytown. Duke was later passed to Keith Erlandson who won the Yorkshire Gundog Club's Novice stake , in or around 1983.

My first involvement with pointers was short and decidedly unsweet. The bitch pup, Innistona Pearl, was a lovely wee black and white dog but she succumbed to a particularly virulent strain of Parvo virus that we had in the North Down area at that time. Like a lot of other folks I had thought of Pointers as a cold and aloof breed but Ghillie (Innistona Slay) had changed my views. Not the prettiest dog, Ghillie even when mature always wanted to play with his handler and other dogs, but the moment you cast him off it was all business.

One of the ten commandments is " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours Ox------", but I was a sinner, I coveted Ghillie. Nineteen eighty three saw Ghillie start to do some damage. He won the Dukeries Novice Stake and was second in the Same Club's Open Stake , thus qualifying for the Champion Stake. At the Championships he was second to Gordon Clark's Ryovan Smoker. In nineteen eighty four Ghillie was still qualified for the Champion Stake and he ended up Reserve. Nineteen eighty five was a momentous year for both The Pointer Club and Will Sloan for it marked the Twenty Fifth Anniversary of the Club and what must have been a very pleasing forty eight hours for Will.

Sparkfield Legus, a big strong liver and white dog, heavily ticked and with an engine like the flying Scotsman won the Breed Stake for Will and the next day Ghillie won the Open Stake. This achievement would have been notable in any year but to do it in an anniversary year made it that extra bit special. (Bookmakers, from Ireland England and Scotland who were giving long odd on Ireland winning the Pointer Club's Fortieth Anniversary celebration event at Balmoral in 2000 should maybe have taken note) So where did Sparkfield Legus (Gus) come from? Easy, Joyce Dammerell. At that time David Reid was "The Man" in Ireland when it came to pointers and it must have made sense to have a dog from " The Man ", so to speak, in England. Gus burst on the scene at the Pointer Club Trials mentioned above and two Open Stakes later at the Scottish Gundog Association's Open he became a Champion. This was a special dog in every way. I remember him as a pup with feet like side plates and legs that seemed as thick as my arm. I also remember that on some occasions, especially when training in the stubble on Newtownards Airport in the morning sun he would come to the recall and just for the hell of it try to knock you down or when running beside my bike, level with the front wheel, he would look at me out of the corner of his eye, sort of smile at my feeble efforts, and accelerate off into the distance, only to came back and do it again.

I don't know when the Sloans decided to move to the Isle of Man but when it came to the day Will arrived at my front door and handed me Ghillie. My wife immediately christened him " The World's Ugliest Dog " but he was a sly old dog and wormed his way into her affections. In fact I think that to his day Ghillie is the only pointer she let into the house, ever. In those days there was a trial in Northern Ireland called the "All Winners Stake". It had a higher qualification requirement than either of the Champion Stakes in that only dogs which had actually won an open could run. Although we didn't know it at the time the 1988 running was to be the last, due to rule changes at the K.C. Ghillie had two finds in the first round, above the Quarry on Slieveanorra and a very tricky find and production on a running cock in what I call the Valley of Death. A place where the breeze can on occasions, seem to be coming from more than one direction at once. I knew we were well in but was still ever so pleased when it was announced that we had won it. This made Ghillie up and was my first trial victory.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, or Isle of Man to be more correct. Will was still running Gus (Sparkfield Legus) and a posse of Red and English Setters. Will and I have never discussed why Gus didn't win the Champion Stake and some folk who were there still scratch their heads when they recall the time Gus was cast off seven times only to be eliminated in his last run. The impact of all this was that eventually Will decided that winning the Big One just wasn't going to happen for Gus. How and why Gus ended up in my yard will be a little secret between Will and I, just maybe Gus would have been better off on the foothills of Mount Fuji but he and I have great fun for a few years. (Just in case I forget, before Gus came to me David Reid used him to mate his bitch Innistona Silk. This produced Innistona Spark, but more of him anon.)

My records show a list of minor awards for Gus and me but our biggest day together was in 1991 in winning the Breffnei & Oriel Open Pheasant Stake. Big for two reasons, it was my first win under I.K.C. rules, and Spark was third. This was the nearest I have come to a one, two. Back to Spark. David Reid had run Spark in a few puppy stakes with a bit of success but had felt he needed a bit of shooting to polish his performance.The man entrusted with the polishing of this gem was Will. I spoke to him while he was shooting in Scotland and he was raving about the dog . Later in the year I had one of those life changing chats with Will. I wanted a pup out of Gus but couldn't find a suitable bitch. Will said the Spark was a "Grand wee dog, and he didn't miss one bird in the whole shooting season" I rang David and Spark was mine. In 1991 I ran Spark in Scotland and England in novice Stakes with three minor awards. This dog was a complete natural, he didn't miss any birds and he handled like a dream. In this year my son Ryan was ten years old. He would come to the mountain to train the dogs and occasionally I let him run Spark We agreed on a very complicated strategy. If Ryan could see Spark the dog was close enough and if he couldn't see Spark, the dog was too far away. It seemed to work. Traditionally the last trial of the season under I.K.C. rules was the Breffnei and Oriel Novice and I decided to let Ryan run Spark. In his first trial and at ten years old Ryan and Spark were second. This result says a lot more about the dog than the boy.

The first I.K.C. trial the next year was the Donegal F.T.A. Open at Moville. Ryan and Spark won that trial and later that year Frank McManus took Ryan and Spark to the Breffnei and Oriel where they effectively won it, being only awarded a third place. Records for Spark show various awards, being handled by me on the mainland and Ryan in Ireland. At this point Will's Pointers cease to play a part in my kennel. There is many a slip twixt cup and lip and despite all our best efforts and those of Terry Harris attempts to breed from Gus and Spark were unsuccessful. However there is something else I can blame Will for. Those of you that know Will will be aware that when "Boy, boy, boy " precedes any statement it is time to grab your tin hat and dive for your fox hole. I was sitting half asleep one winter evening when the phone rang. " Well boy, how are you? (Only one boy! No need to panic) There's this gent form Italy living in Scotland and he has this black bitch he brought from Rome. I think you should buy it."

The rest, as they say, is history.