Hot Temps, Hot Competition

Posted on October 01, 2004 by Trey Reid 

EL CAMPO, Texas - The whole premise of the Mack's Prairie Wings Super Retriever Series is to challenge dogs and their handlers with a grueling course.

So it was no surprise that event organizers and judges set up just such a layout Friday for the second round of this season's inaugural event. But then Mother Nature added to the degree of difficulty.

The 41 dog/handler teams who remained after Thursday's first round were met with scorching heat in Friday's round, making an already difficult test even more challenging than anyone expected.

"The heat played a huge part in it," handler Chris Akin said. "So many dogs were just worn out and mentally zapped when they got down to the blind (the final retrieve)."

The only thing hotter than the South Texas weather was Rankin, the four-year-old black Labrador retriever handled by Stacey West.

After a somewhat disappointing seventh-place finish in the first round on Thursday, Rankin came back Friday and blew away the test with an impressive run to grab the No. 1 seed for Saturday morning's semifinal round.

Rankin was almost perfect, receiving just six points in deductions from the judges. Her two-day total was 24 points, putting her way out in front of the rest of the field.

"It was a dream run," West said. "You couldn't ask for much better than that."

Rankin and West sailed through four marks without a single fault. Judges assessed the team only three minor penalties for whistles as West guided Rankin to the blind bird on her final retrieve.

"I never dreamed she'd come out and do something like that," West said. "Needless to say, we're pretty pleased right now."

Rankin was in a class by herself on Friday, the only retriever to score in single digits out of the field of 41 teams that returned for the second day of competition.

In fact, only two teams scored less than 20 points on Friday - Scott Baldwin and Jessie with 19 and Clint Johnson and Savannah with 19.

Baldwin and Jessie finished second in the qualifying round with a two-day total of 34, while Johnson and Savannah finished fifth with 57.

Also among the 12 teams advancing to Saturday's semifinal were first-day leaders Bryan Grantom and Brown (44 points), Richard McDonald and Sam (52), Chris Akin and Boomer (58), Cade Gentry and Jesse (58), Fred Brown and Ruby (67), Bill Autrey and Roux (68), Jerry Day and Nike (68), Richard Crippen and Jack (70) and Brit Rial and Joe (73).

Rial and Joe actually finished 13th, but the team moved into the semifinal because Akin qualified with two dogs, Boomer and Dallas.

Super Retriever Series rules allow handlers to enter only one dog in the semifinal, which allowed Rial and Joe to make the cut.

Akin chose to put Boomer, the dog that won the gold medal at the 2003 Great Outdoor Games, in Saturday's semifinal.

Friday's test consisted of four marks and one blind bird on a "running-water" course. The first mark was thrown left to right from a small island about 90 yards from the starting line. The second and third marks came from a closer island about 50 yards in front of the starting box, one sailing right to left between the first mark and the starting point and the other landing about 30 yards in front of the teams. A fourth mark flew from a line to the right and behind the teams, landing behind a stand of cattails. The blind bird was placed about 180 yards to the right of the start line in another stand of cattails about 20 feet from the levee from which the teams started.

"We wanted to see a true line to the blind," Super Retriever Series judge Frank Bush said. "I mean point A to point B. We didn't want to see the dogs run down the levee to get to it."

Judges disqualified dogs that had to be handled to three of the four marks, which eliminated a handful of teams, including Dana Giovannello and Windy, the third-place team after the opening round on Thursday.

Under Friday's blistering heat, the test became even more challenging. "Basically, you had a triple in-line, and by the time the dogs had to go for the long bird (the first mark), they were spent," Grantom said.

Then the dogs had to find the distant blind bird. Many appeared sluggish as they attempted the retrieve.

"Boomer had already given out by the time we got to the blind," Akin said.

He wasn't alone. Several dogs were disqualified after encountering problems on the long blind retrieve.

Saturday's semifinal figures to be another hot day. Also consider that the semifinal and final will take place on an entirely different course, and it doesn't have any water.

"It's going to be about endurance," Akin said. "It's going to be a heat contest."