| | | | | | The American Brittany Clubby Leslie Andreas
The American Brittany Club's 2004 National Amateur Championship took place November 22 to 26th. This was the premier one hour stake for amateurs handling all age Brittanys in the country. This stake has been considered as a Championship since 1966. Prior to 1966, it was run as the American Brittany Club Amateur stake with 45 minute heats. The stake has been held on these grounds at the end of November every year since 1987. This year 48 dogs were drawn and all came to the line with no scratches.
Winning the event was FC Just Call Me Roy, owned by Tom Ettinger, Londondery, Vermont and handled by Ken Cherry, Warrior's Mark, Pennsylvania. Runner up, DC/AFC Shady's Tia Maria, owned by Clem and Marilynne Little, Enumclaw, Washington with Clem doing the handling honors. In third place was FC Smarteyes-Joker, owned and handled by Steve Ralph, Forest Lake, Minnesota. Rounding out the placements with fourth was Ch. J & M Clark's Trademark, owned by James and Mary Crawford, Houston, Texas and handled, as usual, by James. The winners came from all corners of the country. With three of them just four years old and one of them just hitting his prime at six, these dogs will be around for a long time to come.
We had a judging panel consisting of Rich Barber,(returning from last year)Reynolds, Illinois, Bob Reynolds, Kansas City, Missouri, and Harold Davis, Pooleville, Texas. Rich Barber is a professional trainer who campaigns Shorthairs but has trained dogs of just about all breeds. Bob Reynolds has a rich background in pointer trials, running and judging since 1969. Harold Davis has been trialing pointers since 1961, and was for a time a professional. All three gentlemen were experienced dog men, knowledgeable, attentive and positive. They did a fine job in sorting out what they saw. It would have been hard to have found a more competent trio to do the job.
The trial is run as a continuous course with three one hour venues in use. All courses consist of likely quail habitat, with edges to run and open fields to show the dog in. There are also places on all three courses that test the dog's ability to handle. Mowed strips and feed plots are groomed so that quail will most likely have good chances of survival. Traditionally, a thousand quail are released in September. This year Red and Larry released fifteen hundred quail, and we did see an improvement in the number seen on all courses. I was not at the 2003 National Amateur so I am depending on last year's report, which claimed that 57 entries had a total of 12 game contacts. This year we had 20 pieces of dog work with 48 entries, and in addition 14 covies were rode up by handlers, scouts, and dog wagons. The birds had acclimated well and were strong flyers.
The weather, as always, is a big factor in the running of the trial, and is the one thing that is beyond the control of those in charge. Our weather came in the form of rain, lots of it, mostly falling during the night, but still affecting us greatly. It caused us to adopt a somewhat slower and safer pace at times, as the fields were sodden, and footing treacherous. Any break in the clouds seemed to bring the birds out to feed. We would lose Tuesday afternoon to a rain storm, but with Friday open it made it easy to complete the stake during better running conditions.
The American Brittany Club owes a great deal to the sponsorship of this and many other championships to the Purina Company.
In addition, quality and coveted prizes were supplied by Christie Enterprises (saddle to the winner), Tri-Tronics and Tracker. Their continued goodwill ensures that we can go on enjoying this wonderful sport. Ray Pelton attended and presented the Purina Dog of the Year award, which was coordinated by Dr. Robert Rankin, held following this championship.
Booneville, as usual, was a hospitable host to those in attendance. We had good hearty meals available to us at the club house all week long, provided by Jake Barber and family, calling this service the Bearcat Too, after his restaurant in town. With social events scheduled almost every night through the week, the clubhouse was well used. Meals every night included a traditional Thanksgiving meal for the extended Brittany family who gather here every year to celebrate bird dogs. Larry McAnally and Red Bailey, as well as their part time assistant, Brad Wells, had the grounds in good shape and took turns driving the dog wagon during the running of the stake.
Jerry McGee and his field trial committee consisting of Ron Zook, Tom White and Tom Milam are to be congratulated on a smooth well run trial, without even a little glitch. Tom and Linda Milam did a lion's share of the organizing and were involved in the day to day running. It took a lot of planning and a lot of help to run and everyone involved deserves a pat on the back. Ed Tillson served again as field trial chairman. Jack Murphy was the course marshall. Paul Katzel co-ordinated all the gallery marshalls (with three each morning and afternoon). I am sorry to say that I didn't get the names of all of the gallery marshals, my fault, as I was trying not to look backwards and see all the fun I was missing by not riding in the gallery. Will Langley, our wrangler, was back again from Michigan, and provided in shape horses that were dependable and smooth. The dog wagon chores were handled by Darlene Dow, Ruth McGee, Nancy Clenenden, Linda Milam and Joan Donnell, with coffee and doughnuts at the break between course 2 and 3. Marilynne Little served as hospitality chairman, making sure everyone was signed up for meals, and organized a fund raising live auction with donations from all over the country, as well as chairing the calcutta. She had help from many people, Sue D'Arcy, Linda Milam, Darlene Dow, Bill Landress and Mary Karbiner, to name a few. Mary Crawford, the field trial secretary, handled the thankless job of the pre-trial and post trial paperwork with efficiency and grace. She has served in this capacity for several years, and claims she is taking a much deserved break next year. Janet Chase appeared in time for the meeting to give the Club treasurer's report. Janet has held this position for many years and is so very good at it. Lyle and Marge Johnson, the AKC reps were here early in the week, as always welcomed back by their Brittany friends who have fond memories of when they were dog trainers on this very circuit. Mary Jo Trimble, the ABC club secretary and one of those people who work so hard for the breed and the sport of field trialing was also present. Her husband, Ray, is the tireless coordinator for the Purina awards which are held after the running of this stake.
Another person who provided a great service was Linda Langford, who posted a synopsis of every day's running on the internet. Anyone who has had to stay home, when they wanted to be here, knew how much these little bits of news meant.
As for me, your reporter, this was the first time I have been to the National Amateur in the past seven years, although I have been to most of the Open stakes since then. I had forgotten how much fun it can be and just how many people show up, that wouldn’t be staying for the National Open stake. (I had also forgotten that Christmas falls right after I get home, and I won't make that mistake again.)
Much missed were Frank and Donna Pride, owners of last year's winner, Pride N Joy's Bunch of Annie. With her entires arriving late, Annie couldn't run and the Prides elected to return to Maine and supervise the building of their new home. The usual custom is to hold a party in honor of the previous year's winner, sponsored by the owners. The Prides donated the cost of the party to a homeless shelter, but a party was held in her honor anyway. The hat was passed to pay for the band and the meal, and a toast was made by Tom Milam to a great previous champion, Annie.
The Winners
FC Just Call Me Roy came out of the 15th brace running in the last brace on course three Wednesday afternoon. Roy was wide, hard charging and on the lines going forward throughout his hour, handled two covey finds, (one of the few dogs to have multiple finds),both pointed with lofty style and finished strong. A 4 year old dog, Roy was runner up last year in the National Open Championship and certainly has a great future in hour stakes. This big strong male was handled aggressively and smartly by Ken Cherry, this is the third time Ken handled someone else's dog to the National Amateur Championship title. He won it in 2000 with Roy's sire, Tom and Martha Greenlee's Piney Run Sam, and two years later won handling Ron Zook's Pistol Packin Walker. Ken came close to winning it in with one of his own dogs in 1997, with Keystone's Luck of the Draw in the runner up position. It is also the fifth time that a dog from Ben Lorenson's string of dogs has won the title in the past nine years. Roy is owned by his breeder Tom Ettinger from Vermont. As previously mentioned, Roy is sired by NAFC Piney Run Sam - and out of a daughter of NFCAux Arc's Mark. Roy is a worthy champion coming out of a field that produced some other Championship quality performances.
The runner up was DC/AFC Shady's Tia Maria, owned by Clem and Marilynne Little of Enumclaw, Washington. Tia came out of the 19th brace on course one, Thursday afternoon. Handled by Clem, Tia put in a strong bid for the title. The story of her performance though is almost a side bar-- the real story is that Clem suffered a debilitating stroke six weeks prior to this event. At the time he was unable to walk. His doctor told him that recovery would be long and slow, but Clem's determination to run his own dog in the championship made him will himself back to health. And he made it, although it was apparent he was weak. In the early going, Tia checked in occasionally to make sure Clem was with her. At 7 minutes, she stood with pride to the right in a known covey location. Clem flushed the birds with all in order, but required help from the gallery in tightening the girth on his horse and remounting. Once he was back in the saddle, Tia stretched forward in widening, smart casts, running an all age race, yet handling like she was on a string. As we approached the bridge, Tia was rimming the field on the right at great speed. To finish, we had to turn sharply left while she was far to the right, and so she was hung up behind momentarily. As soon as she realized the course had turned she got herself to the front with a lot of steam left for her finish. Tia is a 4 year old bitch, the youngest dual & amateur field champion in breed history, from the breeding of Nat.Ch. Dual Ch/AFC Tequila's Joker and FC Shady's Chik N Little, both worthy winners and producers.
The third place dog, FC Smarteyes Joker, was handled by his new owner, Steve Ralph. This was only the second time that Steve has handled "Jordan", as he is called. Since he purchased the 6 year old male in September, Jordan has come on strong. He won the Quail Classic, was runner up in the Pheasant Classic, and has a number of other hour placements. Jordan came out of the 14th brace running on course two on Wednesday afternoon. As fate would have it, he was braced with the handler (Ed Tillson) who had actually qualified Jordan for the championship, but Jordan willingly handled for Steve. He put in a solid hour on the ground, with a stylish divided find at 8 and scored on the 109 crossing covey again with lofty posture. Jordan is also sired by Tequila's Joker out of a daughter of National Ch. Microdot.
The fourth place dog, Ch. J & M's Clark's Trademark, ran Monday afternoon on course one, coming from the fourth brace. Clark is a 4 year old dog owned by James and Mary Crawford. Clark was hunting right from the start but not as wide as he would be in the second half of his hour. He has an eye catching way of going and began to apply himself to the far edges midway through the course. He grew stronger as the hour went on and had a class find at 58 minutes. Clark is the product of FC/AFC The Time Machine and DC/AFC DeLamont Bon Ami, and himself needs only a major to finish as a dual champion.
I was curious about how common is it for a winner of this stake to sire another winner of this stake.
It turned out to be a fairly regular occurrence. 7 National Amateur winners have sired National Amateur Champions. In addition to Roy and Sam, Jim de Bob's Sparks A Dan D sired Rebel's Tough Is Tyrone, and a three generation family exists of National Amateur Champions with two time winner Gringo de Britt (69 & 70) siring Gunrunner's Far Out, 1982 winner and he in turn siring Jake's Son of a Gun Runner, 1991 NAFC. CharLee ODee, the victor in 1971 sired twice winner (74 & 75) Hello Dolly Miss Kaer. 1967's winner Little Rapa Luke was sired by Rendevous Skipper who had won in 1965 before it was designated as a championship. And 1956 & 58 winner Ferdinand of Leeway sired the 1962 winner Ferd's Cannonball or Leeway. (Compare this to 4 National Open Champions siring a total of 4 National Open Champions.) So far, none of the bitches that have won either stake have produced a winner to follow in their footsteps.
The Running
Monday morning, November 22, we would breakaway at 8 am, under an overcast sky. Before long, a light mist of rain fell, continuing intermittently throughout the day.
Brace 1 - Sadie Fair Lady (Oliver) and J & M Ace High Jax (Crawford) This pair began our championship ducking in and out of cover on course one. Jax was hampered by an injured paw, and hunted at modest range. At 7 minutes, he pointed off the side of the road, but it was unproductive. Sadie was handling well for her owner and displayed maturity in her pattern. At 24 she stood pointing into a bright scarlet patch of sumac, in the second corner of the field 200 yards past Lick creek crossing. Despite her efforts no birds would be flushed here. Sadie was to have a second nonproductive in the cotton fields at 40.
Brace 2 - Briscoe Buddy Boy (Trimble) and Rovan's Dust Devil Dan Clark (Clark) Briscoe took an extended absence, returning across the road just as the clock was about to run out. He had the tendency to burrow deep into the woods, and one of these forays took him out of contention. He was found late in the evening in a local home. Dan ran a good, consistent and smart pattern throughout his hour. He was always forward, always hunting and handled kindly, perhaps more of a shooting dog than all age, but still a pleasant performance.
Brace 3 - Special Attraction- "Sly"- (Pool) and Jerob's Tradewind Clipper-"Chipper"-(Rollyson) Jere Hart was riding in the gallery to watch his Chipper run. Sly, a little roan bitch, began quickly moving out to cover, while Chipper, a good looking dog with a long stride dived into the line directly to the front following the breakaway on course three. Sly had a nonproductive stand at 12, followed with another at 22. Chipper had gotten himself hung up and in catching up, also had a non-productive at 22. Sly wore down in the last half of the hour, while Chipper was ruled out of contention after not being seen by the time we had reached the beaver dam.
Brace 4 - J& M Clark's Trademark (Crawford) and Apache-(Maxwell) Patch shot away down the hill along the road, with Clark working the cover well. At 6 a distant cry of point was heard, with the confusing situation of no one knowing which dog it might be. Clark solved this dilemma when he showed forward on the course. A long ride ensued to find Patch standing with style and intensity along the tangled hedgerow beside the road. A large covey was flushed, our first find of the championship. Since we were way off course, we met up with the other party near the Lick Creek crossing. Clark reportedly hunted well through this portion of the course, though not at wide range. Patch jumped into the cover to the right as we passed the metal gates and wasn't seen again for a long period of time. He would appear again in the cotton fields, narrowly beating the clock for staying in the game. He appeared to have lost his early steam and go power in the last 15 minutes of the stake. As we progressed down the course, Clark expanded his casts, gaining strength and covering more ground, using the wind and staying to the front. He has a fluid gait that is very attractive to watch. His diligence paid off at 58 minutes when he pointed a covey with impeccable style and manners.
Brace 5 - Tejas Iron Mike (Graves) and TJ's Single Shot of Scipio-"Emme" (White) Mike broke away fast to the front and would not be seen again for a long time. His handler showed great faith in his dog to show, riding on and Mike did appear, in the nick of time, 300 yards the other side of the first road crossing. Emme was fast and enthusiastic with a driving gait. She did some looping which distracted from her overall effort. No birds were worked this brace, with the only game seen a pair of deer midway through the hour. A scout rode birds up to the right of the 109 crossing.
Brace 6 - Blueridge Major Adventure (Downing) and Suka's Win Mini (Lincoln) Major started hunting hard at moderate range. At 15, he was spotted to the right of the trail inside of a vine-covered line, stylishly on point. A few birds from the covey flew directly at him and he took a whirl around to mark their flight. Mini had blasted away and taken a cast to the right that carried her out of pocket for a time. She was rode for and brought back, arriving to the forward party just after Major's find. Judge Barber reported she had made some nice moves on the way back. Major began to stretch out and run the lines in a smart, efficient fashion. At 30, a single flushed, and he applied the brakes for a good stop to flush. Both dogs were moving out well. Mini eventually lost contact with her handler- and in the end Major, too, was gone too long. The trackers were out by the time we got to the beaver dam.
Posted dogs - Apache, J & M Clark's Trademark
Tuesday morning, it had rained all night, heavy sheets of rain, with more predicted to fall. It held off til noon, but when it came it was accompanied by thunder and lightning. At first, the running was to be cancelled for an hour, but it was soon apparent that we would lose the entire afternoon running time. Deluges of rain continued through the afternoon.
Brace 7 - Traveller's Reign of Terra (White) and J&M's Pete's Turning Trix (Crawford) Terra started off strong, flashing into view through the bright autumn foliage as she tore through the course. Trixie's range was moderate in comparison. At 17, she pointed with positive demeanor right in front of Tom White's horse. Jim seemed unsure whether to call point as Tom had just rode through the area directly where she was pointing, but Trixie was staying put. A tight sitting covey was feeding in the grass, and flushed exactly where the dog said they were. Terra had vanished at the second corner of course one, not showing again until the Lick Creek crossing. She continued on with big moves, driving to the front, until she went missing past the iron gates. She would be ruled out of contention this time. Trixie remained at gundog range, hunting but not extending herself. Tom rode up the bridge covey and at that time; another covey had been spotted rising from the area of the pig pen.
Brace 8 - Tradewind's A Train-"Jet" (Rollyson) and Hi Point I Believe I Can Fly "Jammer"(Downing) Jet, a powerful dog, got of to a promising start-running hard and forward. He grew to be more of a handful as time went on and was out of sight before we made the turn at the first road crossing. At 7 minutes, the handlers rode up a big covey on the road. At 8, Jammer put a couple of deer out of the cover to the left and repeated this action when another pair of deer moved at 25. At 40 minutes the judges handed Steve his tracker for the still missing Jet. Jammer was thoroughly checking the cover, but not moving out as much as one would have liked to have seen from an all age dog. At 48, he stood at the 109 crossing, a known covey location, but no one was home today.
Brace 9 - Cheyenne Joker's Starbuck- (Cross ) and Bourbon XIII-"Al" (McGee) Buck and Al were on the tough third course; Buck had a bit of trouble staying forward. Al was wider and more consistently to the front. Both went the hour trying their best to connect with birds, however, had no luck.
No dogs were posted in the shortened day two.
Wednesday, November 24, we awoke to another wet morning, torrents of water having come down during the night. It was cold with a wind that cut right through clothing, and heavy mud to slog through for the dogs. Tough going in the morning!! In the afternoon conditions improved, as the wind died down, and birds began to move about to feed.
Brace 10 - TLM Missouri Red (Milam) and Tequila Jack II (Tillson) Red and Jack got down to the business of hunting right from the break away. At 15, point was called for Red to the right. She was standing pointing into heavy cover. When Tom had finally run the birds out the other side and was about to flush, Red realized she couldn't see and moved up to get a better look. She earned herself a trip to the dog wagon. Jack continued to run an appealing race, using the course well, and staying forward. At 59 and a half minutes, he pointed on the left side of the road in the vicinity of the bridge covey that we found nearly every time out. The ground in front of him was mostly under water, and a long relocation proved fruitless.
Brace 11 - RuJem's Field of Feathers (McGee) and Maxwell's Charismatic-"Mack" (Maxwell) Mack favored the right side of the course. He seemed affected by the mud and cold and unfamiliar type cover. He got hung up and came in from the rear a few times. Feather was out front and hunting well. She had a stop to flush at 7 on a wild turkey, with Jerry heard to comment that this was the first bird contact he had ever had in Booneville, and it would have to be a turkey. Jerry didn't fire, just took Feather on. She continued to handle kindly and smartly. At 17, she had a non-productive stand at the 109 crossing. Her entire hour was a consistent effort to find birds. When Jerry picked her up, he said, "1500 birds out here and you couldn't find me even one." She certainly tried hard.....
Brace 12 - The Prairie Tornado-"Twister" (Tillson) and RC's Rone Ranger-"Sandy" (Richter) Twister and Sandy, a pair of roan dogs, had the third course. Sandy was the wider of the two, but both were checking out all the cover they could reach. At 20, Twister pointed into a water filled copse, with Ed unable to produce in front of her. Sandy was making some wide swings to the right. As we entered the Lover's bend portion of the course, a covey boiled out across the road directly in front of the handlers. No dogs involved as far as we could see. Sandy pointed about a hundred yards up the same line that they had come out of at 44, then moved on. He worked the opposite way from what they had flown, and again established at the far right end of this line with no birds in front of him. Taken on from this he grabbed the right edge and made a big move. At 56, Sandy was called on point, with Twister in the vicinity acting very birdy but not seeing Sandy, and not stopped. Rob waited for Ed to get Twister out of there, before attempting a flush. No birds seen here. At 59, Twister pointed on the woods edge that is the end of the course; she started creeping while Ed was trying to flush and he released her to relocate. She was unable to do so in a timely fashion.
Brace 13 - Blaze'n Micro Blast (Cowling) an Double Tee Belle (Lincoln) In the early portions of the course, the two dogs were together a lot. Past the creek crossing, Belle broke away and began to make good use of the course. At 48, she had a dug up find in a line of briar to the right in the cotton field. A long ride followed with the horses sinking deep with every step. The quail wanted to run rather than fly, and in the course of the action Belle turned slightly in order to follow their movement. Dave was able to get two of them airborne. Blast is a young dog, getting his first experience at the Nationals, and was a little immature. The brace ended up turning the chute parallel to the Petit Jean River, the two dogs paired up again.
Brace 14 - Make My Day Dude (Tillson) and Smarteyes Joker-"Jordan" (Ralph) Dude and Jordan are half brothers and very similar in appearance and application. They moved out well on course two, each independently forward on different lines. On the Riblin Knoll Road at 8, Steve had his hat in the air, and as we rounded the trees on the left there was Jordan standing tall, with Dude silhouetted beside him, 15 feet away. A large, well located covey rose, and a divided find was recorded. Each dog continued to apply himself to the business at hand through the loop and the parrish fields. At 48, working his way down the right edge of the cover running along 109 crossing, Jordan slowed, turned, styled up and had himself a jim dandy find on a covey. He was strong running to finish along the chute past the bridge. Dude also retained his powerful stride right to pick up.
Brace 15 - Just Call Me Roy (Cherry) and Go Man-"Zack" (Katzel) Cast away on course 3 over the bridge, both dogs went to the front with purpose and speed. Roy was about as far out as the eye could see, taking lines and charging forward. At 18, point was called for him on a feed strip to the right. He had a positive demeanor but had to be relocated. He wasted no time in pinning them at the end of the strip, with impeccable manners. Coming off this find he again shot to the front, hunting all the way and at 23, he pointed intensely near an old feeder. The covey was right where he said it was, with all in order at the flush. Roy was getting to be a handful and Ken had to handle him aggressively to keep him on the tight course. He was growing stronger as the hour progressed. At 48, he was found to the front on point, facing into a water saturated mote. Ken tried briefly to flush, but elected to take a non-productive rather than relocate. (The dog wagon would flush a covey 30 feet from here along the road when they went through a few minutes later.) Zack was by no means out of this, as he was covering lots of ground with plenty of drive. At 56, he took a covey out of the woods edge in the precise spot that Twister had a non-productive earlier in the day. Roy had eaten up so much course that he had to do a couple minutes of blasting through the woods at the end of his hour. He managed to make it to the last clearing where he showed us a blistering finish. A standard had been set.......
Posted dogs for the day- Smarteyes Joker, Just Call Me Roy
Thursday morning, November 25, was Thanksgiving Day. Everything was covered with frost, very pretty, very chilly, but the bright blue sky promised it would warm up and it turned out to be a very pleasant day. Jerry McGee offered up a prayer of thanksgiving at break away up on the hill, expressing gratitude for the brave men in service overseas.
Brace 16 - KT's Artic Gladiator (McClary) and Make It A Bud Light (Tate) Gladiator is a big white dog, and Bud a big heavily marked roan dog. Gladiator was seen sparingly the first half hour, but was out front when spotted. At 7, the handlers rode up a covey on the path with no dogs involved. Bud rolled along the edges to the right, the sunlight reflecting off his red coat, and doing a fine job of traversing the course. He recieved a minimum of direction from his handler and appeared to know when to turn, and where to hunt. As we entered the gap through the hedgerow into the bright green wheat field,43 minutes into the brace, point was called for Bud. He was locked up, looking to the right, and his bracemate came shooting through the gap and froze along side of him. Bill flushed a previously unworked covey. His horse took off at the shot, and Paul Katzel gave up his horse for Bill, so the brace could proceed. Near the the Hayden camp area, several deer exited Gladiator leaving them without much problem. Both dogs finished with finesse along side the Petit Jean river.
Brace 17 - Lea's Running Jayhawk -"Jake" (Ackerman) and TJ's Apache-"Bandit" (Tillson) Jake is a veteran 10 year old former winner of this stake, and Bandit, a fine running bird dog, were promising us a good show. Bandit took the bit in his teeth early in the hour and drifted off. He would be ruled out of contention. Ed rode up a covey out sunning himself in a small stand of trees while searching for Bandit. Jake hunted well, but seemed to be struggling as we went through the swampy cold loop. He rallied after he reached the edge and put on a rolling smooth, sustained cast on the right edge, taking it around all the corners and never breaking off of it. It was the kind of move hoped to see in a championship stake, and it was exciting to hear the scout call point at 41 deep in the woods. Jake was intense, with a page wire fence right in front of him. Bo could not flush on either side of the fence, and put Jake over the fence to try to pin what was probably a running covey. Judge Barber dismounted and went into the woods with Bo, but it was a wasted trip. Jake tried to sustain his race once back on course, but was tiring as time was called. As Bo said when he picked him up, the spirit is still willing but the flesh is weak.
Brace 18 - Bouncing Betty (Burton) and Willie Boy's Buddie (Williamson) Betty was light on her feet and fast, getting herself into trouble at 24 when she pushed a covey into the air. Buddie punched his way through the cover in a hard hunting fashion, but ended his bid at 46 with a covey bumped.
Brace 19 - Commanche (Katzel) and Shady's Tia Maria (Little) Commanche was very wide off the breakaway, flashing as a white streak through the trees. Tia was forward and occasionally checking back to her handler. At 7, Tia was spotted to the right of the trail, pointing with high head and tail. A covey was spread all around her. Clem, still weak from the stroke he had suffered 6 weeks previously required some help to remount. Commanche was absent through the mid portion of the course, showing just in the nick of time at the gate. Tia rolled out well, applying herself in admirable fashion, gaining in strength and range as the course opened up. From Hayden Camp onwards, she was a little speck rimming the edges, and doing it on her own. Clem rarely opened his mouth, Tia just handled so kindly he didn't need to. As we approached the bridge, Tia was ripping up the course taking the right side of the cover all the way up at high speed. As we turned a sharp left to do the chute, Tia was briefly behind. Commanche was out front, hunting to the left. Tia soon was out front, giving us a good finish. A very good performance had been witnessed.
Brace 20 - Keystone's Double Shot-"Shooter" (Ken Cherry) and Count Sirocco-"Roc" (Sue D'Arcy) Breaking away on Course 2, both dogs quickly went to the front. Shooter was spotted far to the front at 10, standing along a feed strip. No birds were flushed. Roc was wide but somewhat erratic in pattern. Shooter was running a hard charging kind of all age race. As we approached the 109 crossing, both dogs were deep inside the cover along the road. Shooter eventually showed on the other side of the road. Roc would be ruled out as he had been missing too long. At 60 minutes, Shooter slowed, stopped and a small covey rose simultaneously.
Brace 21 - Diamond Hill Dan-(Pollack) and Shambo's Dark Shadow (Crain) A bracing of these two National Open Champions promised an exciting hour. Dan proved to be a handful on the tight confines of the third course. Spotted once in the distance, he eventually was timed out of contention. Shadow, also a powerful running dog, handled well at the limits of the course. At 46, he was on point into the same water logged mote that Roy had his non-productive at the day before. Shadow was high at both ends and a study of intensity as Bernie flushed the covey directly in front of him. With only minutes to go, Shadow crossed in front of us, and it was apparent to all that something wasn't right. He staggered and became uncoordinated, and could not go on. It is likely that he was suffering from a hypoglycemic episode where his blood sugar had become totally depleted and he had "run into a wall". Bo Ackerman had a high calorie dense product on hand, and within a few minutes of rubbing some on his gums, Shadow stabilized. We are all happy that Shadow was himself again by the time he got to camp.
Posted dogs for the day-Make It A Bud Light and Shady's Tia Maria
Friday, with partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures our last half day was underway at 8 o'clock sharp.
Brace 22 - Mr. Magilcutty-"Mick" (Pool) and Harlan County Cowboy (Medford) Both dogs were to run wide independent races for the entire hour. Mick mostly chose the right side of the course and probed it deeply. Cowboy was perhaps the more forward of the two, as he ran a smooth flowing pattern, needing little scouting. Both dogs had especially big memorable moves along the far left edge apart from one another as we approached Hayden Camp area. At 55, the handlers rode up the bridge covey feeding on the road. The pair had to turn and do the chute to the left, with Cowboy getting a little hung up at this point. Any bird work from these dogs might have made a difference.
Brace 23 - Wichita-"Jake"- (Mantler) and Redline's Tequila Smoker (Leffingwell) Jake broke well forward. At 12, point was called for him, and as we rode to the indicated site, birds were spotted by Judge Barber in the air. When seen, Jake was moving and soon had the rest of a large covey in the air. Smoker had also sped off the breakaway, taking a timber line left to right out front, and disappearing forward from there. The next time he was spotted was deep in the woods by the river as we crossed the road. He came out, dashed across the tall grass to the edge on the right. He did not show again, and eventually the judges gave Bill his tracking device.
Brace 24 - Rambling Man-"Randy"-(Baird) and MoDan's Believer-"Buddy" (Cross) Randy was in gundog mode, short but enthusiastic. Pam picked him up at 18 when he had failed to improve. Buddy ran at moderate range. At 15, he was on point, not looking very convinced about where the bridge covey had landed in Brace 1, but nothing came of it. He continued on, and at 45 pointed with more conviction in a known covey location. Another barren stand and John elected to end his hour early.
The grounds were much improved over last year. Part of the reason, of course, would be better weather conditions, but the efforts provided by Red Bailey and Larry McAnally would be the major factor in the good shape the grounds were in. In September of this year, 1500 quail were released giving them time to covey up and act like wild birds. There was a much higher bird count this year as compared to last. I recorded 34 coveys flushed, 20 of which were worked by dogs. This count includes flushes by scouts, handlers, and dog wagon. In addition, a chukar was spotted, no doubt leftover from a local trainer, and a dog had a stop to flush on a turkey. Course one had eight dog contacts and five ride ups. Course two had four dog contacts and five ride ups, and Course three had eight dog contacts and 6 rode up by people. Had the weather been better, I am sure we would have had more bird contact. A number of times, locations for non-productive stands later became the site of productive finds, and usually the birds were more willing to fly when they were dried out and if the weather was better.
2004 American Brittany Club National Amateur All Age Championship: (48 dogs)
1 - Just Call Me Roy
by NAFC/FC/AFC Piney Run Sam x FC Mark's Pride of Savannah
owner Tom Ettinger; handler Ken Cherry
2 - DC/AFC Shady's Tia Maria
by NFC/DC/AFC Tequila's Joker x FC/AFC Shady's Chik N Little
owner Clem & Marilynne Little; handler Clem Little
3 - FC Smarteyes-Joker
by NFC/DC/AFC Tequila's Joker x Smarteyes Microbeans
owner Steve Ralph; handler Steve Ralph
4 - CH J&M Clark's Trademark
by FC/AFC The Time Machine x DC/AFC DeLamont Bon Ami
owner Jim & Mary Crawford; handler Jim Crawford
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