JESSICA Dodwell has earned bragging rights at home, beating her mum Deb in the ladies draft on home soil.
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Jess and her mare Tasso’s Diva ran an 87 to qualify with the top score for the final.
When Deb and Faith also ran an 87 in the final, Jess knew they’d have to produce something special.
“After the second peg I thought ‘we’ve got this’, it was very close, we were lucky to get round,” Jess said.
Jess finished with a top score of 90, leaving Deb to settle with equal second.
The win is Jess’s first since returning to the sport following a two year break.
She has twice been the Southern Campdraft Association (SCA) juvenile champion, and has previously won ladies drafts in Tarcutta and at the 2011 SCA championships.
Jess returned to drafting last season, but a nasty fall in March ended her season with a broken collarbone.
Since then she has rediscovered her confidence thanks to Tasso’s Diva.
“I’m able to relax with Diva, I trust her enough to put them around,” Jess said.
Jess explained Diva is very capable at “rating” cattle, or predicting how they will move.
The confidence-boosting win concluded a great weekend at the 20th Illabo Show Society Campdraft.
Neither Simon or Jess had any luck in the open draft, but Simon won the novice on Wallabah Excess.
The weekend was run by the Dodwell family and was the biggest yet.
It drew over 850 competitors and Deb said it was their smoothest so far thanks to perfect weather and terrific cattle.
Cattle donors for the weekend included John and Kate Day, who both had success. John got equal 3rd in the novice, which consisted of 256 runs, whilst Kate got 3rd in the maiden and equal 5th in the ladies.
Other donors were Phil Angland and Mitzy Weston, who committed a week to walk 420 head of cattle from Wantabadgery; the Maple- Brown Family who own Merribindinyah; Terry and Edna Hillier; and Kerry Edwards and Mick Gammon of Bethungra.
Kerry and Mick hand-reared a lot of dairy calves to supply the junior competitors with quiet cattle.
The main judge for the weekend was Pat Smyth of Tamworth.
Pat is a very accomplished drafter, winner of last year’s $30,000 Landmark Classic and having judged the Warwick Gold Cup.
