Agility competitions, hosted by The Kennel Club at The London International Horse Show, have crowned highly skilled dogs and their owners as winners across ten different agility competitions, including some earning qualification for Crufts 2024, in March.
This year, The Kennel Club hosted more agility competitions than ever before at The London International Horse Show, which took place at London ExCeL, from Thursday 14 – 18 December.
The Kennel Club Agility Stakes finals, held in association with Skinner’s, are one of the most prestigious agility competitions in the world. The five finals saw stars of agility who had earned qualification in competitions throughout the year compete across small, medium, large, intermediate and large ABC (Anything But Collie) categories.
The winners of The Kennel Club Agility Stakes, held in the International Arena, were:
- Large ABC - Megan Meade with her German Shorthaired Pointer, Rekkit Robyn, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.
- Small – Martin Reid with his Shetland Sheepdog, Get It With Eager To Work, from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
- Intermediate – Mark Den Dunnen with his Border Collie, Devongem Be A Bright Star, from the Forest of Dean.
- Large – Dalton Meredith with his Border Collie, Ag Ch Fandabidozi Eclipse Of Dust, from Bristol.
- Medium – Toni Dawkins with her Miniature American Shepherd, Ag Ch Bachero Cross My Heart, from Chapel Hill, Lincolnshire.
New competitions for 2023, sponsored by Agria and held in the New Horizons Plastics London Arena at the ExCeL, included three Crufts Semi-Finals, which saw dogs putting their best paw forward to gain a spot in the final, held at the world’s greatest dog show, Crufts, in March 2024.
The winners of the Crufts Semi-Finals were:
- Medium ABC – Stephanie Best with her Shetland Sheepdog, Z-Atomic Spice Koryfej, from Ringwood, Hampshire.
- Large Novice ABC – Emma Wallis with her Australian Shepherd, Stockyard Ruffstock Rodeo, from Castleford, Leeds.
- Intermediate Novice ABC – Pam Mayhew with her Stabyhoun, Staby What from Norwich, Norfolk.
The New Horizons Plastics London Arena also hosted finals of the Discover Dogs Small/Mixi Pairs Challenge and The Kennel Club Starters Cup.
The winners of The Kennel Club Starters Cup Final were:
- Small – Ian Law with his Cocker Spaniel, Kellandbrook Mojito Of Wyanfaest, from Bristol.
- Medium – Rosie Rushin with her Springer Spaniel/Cocker Spaniel cross, Maybo Brown Bear, from Loughborough, Leicestershire.
- Intermediate – Chloe Powling with her Border Collie, The Beloci Cassie Raptor, from Muckhart, Clackmannanshire.
- Large - Stephanie Hubbard with her Labrador Retriever, Tansymonn Red Russet, from Chichester, West Sussex.
The winners of the Discover Dogs Small/Mixi Pair Challenge Final were:
- Stacey Irwin-Burns and Alan Bray, from Brighton and Milton Keynes, with their dogs Midnight Breeze At Upanovatiger (Shay) and Ag Ch Devongem Fire Starter At Upanovatiger (Ticita).
Ben Skinner, of Skinner’s, which support The Kennel Club Agility Stakes commented: “Many congratulations to all competing dogs and their owners for such fantastic performances in all events at this year’s Kennel Club Agility Stakes. We are pleased to be supporting this prestigious competition which always brings a great level of excitement and demonstrates a world-class level of agility by all competitors. We’d like to wish every dog and their owner the best of luck for upcoming competitions in 2024.”
Catherine Guiver, Head of Events at The Kennel Club said: “Congratulations to all dogs and their owners for demonstrating such excellence in agility across all the competitions. Everyone who took part over the last couple of days should feel very proud.
“We look forward to seeing many of the competitors and winners at future Kennel Club competitions in the new year!”
All agility competitions were hosted by The Kennel Club at The London International Horse Show, at ExCeL London, from 14 – 18 December 2023.
More information and a full list of results are available here on our website.
For owners interested in getting started in agility with their dog, The Kennel Club has created a guide which can be found online here.