A National History - 'Super Koi'
Koi 96 held over the weekend of 10th / 11th August at Billing aquadrome. 424 koi were entered in the show and more than 8000 visitors passed through the gates over the weekend.
Bill Oakley took his first National GC with a stunning 5 year old 74cm Kohaku from Matsunosuke called Lady Di. I tend to think of this as the first “Super Koi” to win the National and it changed the show forever in terms of what was needed to take the GC title. The JSC comment on the koi at the time was “Inspiring Kohaku with superb skin quality and the striking pattern with excellent Kiwa made this a koi of rare quality and a worthy champion”
Lady Di was shown in the 1996 All Japan show (28th show) in the 75bu class and ended up taking 2nd place in this class amongst some stiff competition. She was then returned to Isawa and Mr Sakai’s 3m deep pond and fed until April when she was shipped to the UK for her National appearance and subsequent win.
1997 – This was Bill Oakley’s 2nd victory in a row and as we now know the beginnings of a very successful run for this quiet man. This time it was a 85cm Matsunosuke Sanke supplied by Infiltration. This koi was called Doris after Bill’s Mother. At the show she measured 80cm. (Lady Di last years winner finished runner-up). Bill Oakley first visited Japan in April 1995. “Doris” was first spotted at a Matsunosuke harvest in the autumn of 1996. He was not present at that harvest but via a telephone call managed to secure first refusal on the koi during a trip to see the All Japan Show in January.
1998 – The show was held over the 22nd / 23rd August was the date for Doris’s second victory and she returned with much more size (84cm) and volume. Doris became the first koi to win the National twice and up to 2007 the only koi to win in successive years. It was not until about 4 weeks before koi 98 that the decision was made as to which koi Bill would enter into the National. Peter Waddington himself went to Bill’s house and helped net the koi to make the decisions. Bill does not handle to moving of his big show koi himself he uses the expertise of his dealer and their staff. On the Friday before the show Dennis Wordsworth and Harvey (Now at EA) arrived at Bill’s to collect and pack the koi into their Polystyrene wooden crates and take them to the show.
The show had another future winner in attendance – Mark Crampton, and he had brought a Hoshikin Kohaku and it was a two horse race between the two koi. In the end voting came and “Doris” won with 8 of the 9 judges votes.
1999 – Despite difficulties in the early part of 1999 the BKKS carried on and the show had a new venue for this year at Bingley Hall in the centre of Staffordshire county Show ground. This was an indoor venue from what I can make out and the East Pennine section lent much of it’s equipment to the BKKS in order to stage the show.
Bill Oakley struck to take Grand Champion with an Infiltration (of course) supplied 70cm Matsunosuke Kohaku. This was his 4th victory in a row. Bill has 2 ponds – a 15,000 gallon set up and his business premises and another one at his home of around 12,000 gallons (pictured) The pond is of standard construction using block render and fibreglass and is some 7ft deep. It uses 3 bottom drains to settlement vortex’s onto 4 heavily aerated vortex’s of Japanese matting. There are 3 sequence pumps running the system and three hi-Blow 100’s for aeration.
2000 – The new Millenium saw Bill Oakley’s Doris return for another (3rd) victory on the 25th Anniversary of the show. This meant that like Joe Wilmington Bill Oakley now had 5 National victories to his name. Doris was now some 87cm and with huge volume. Incidently another Sanke swam in the same vat called “Nellie” and was named after his mother in-law. This koi (Nellie) had won the ZNA All Japan koi show in the autumn of 1998 before being imported to the UK.