IT was a case of so near, but yet so far for King Island dog handler John Bramich at last week's Agfest Dog Trial.
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Mr Bramich worked Spot for two rounds and finished with scores of 67 and 47, leaving him in a dead heat for first place with Westbury's Martin Wadding-ham in the novice class.
Mr Bramich said that in his run-off against Mr Waddingham, Spot crossed on the third run "and that was it for us".
"Martin only had to get a score to win the event and he did," Mr Bramich said.
Mr Bramich said he started working dogs part-time about three years ago and had been working Spot for 12 months.
"He was bred around Ulverstone way — he's not a bad dog and I've given it (competition) a bit of a go this year," Mr Bramich said.
"We'll just see how we go from here."
But as close as things were in the novice competition, things could not have been more clear cut in the open class, where Hamilton's Bernard McGlashan dominated to claim all top-three places.
Mr McGlashan won with Kiwi, was second with Spud and third with Ash.
He also worked Ash to win the improver category.
As one dog handler said: "Bernard had a hell of an event".
The final event before the winter break will be the Greenhills trial and training day, at Campbell Town, on May 23 and 24 .
The event starts at 7.30am and judge will be Greg Skeggs.