AKC Approves Licensed Derby Trials!!
Yesterday, June 13, 2017 the AKC Delegate Body approved both beagle proposals on the agenda. First they approved Licensed Field Champion Only trials where hounds can compete to become a Grand Field Champion. Next they approved Licensed Derby trials where hounds can earn up to one-third of the requirements to become a field champion.
I would like to commend Mel Stewart, Field Director-Hounds, and Doug Ljungren, AKC Vice President of Sports & Events for the way they have conducted the past 2 BAC meetings.Then the real work began regarding these beagle proposals and Doug did an outstanding job of guiding the BAC proposals through the entire process.
I would like to thank Russ Arend, as ABBA President, and Chris Keenan, AKC Delegate for Empire Beagle Club for writing to James Corbett, Chairman of the Field Trial and Hunting Test Committee, prior to the AKC Delegates Meeting, regarding the BAC‘s proposal to allow federations to license derby trials.
There was opposition voiced, at the delegate meeting, in regards to licensing federation derby trials. However, James Corbett, Chris Keenan, and myself, as the new Delegate for the Wolverine Beagle Club, were able to speak in favor of this proposal.The required two-thirds majority vote was successfully obtained.
Below are the details regarding Licensed Derby trials. Chapter 9 of the Beagle Field Trial Rules will be modified as follows:
(New) “Section 3. Licensed Derby Stakes. A Beagle association or federation may, at their option, offer one licensed derby stake per calendar year.The licensed derby stake may be held in conjunction with a licensed field trial or may be a stand-alone event.If the license derby stake is held as a stand-alone event, the normal event application fee shall apply. All Rules applying to Beagle Field Trials shall apply to the Derby classes.To be eligible to participate in a Derby class, a dog must meet the definition of a Derby dog as specified in the Standard Procedures, Sanctioned Beagle Field Trials section provided later in this book”. Also the following sentence will be added at the end of the present Section 5.Field Champion Title Requirements. “No more than one first place and 40 points earned in derby stakes may count toward the Field Champion Title”.
If you have been reading this report, word for word, right about now I can imagine that you might be thinking how come they included Associations for Derby Licensed trials? Possibly the AKC staff writers felt they should be consistent and include the Associations, since they were included in the rule that allows an Association and a Federation to hold a regular licensed trial.They might also be aware that some of the Gun Dog Associations have more entries than the Gun Dog Federations. This is the only explanation that comes to my mind, because only Licensed Federation Derby trials were ever put in writing or discussed verbally in regards to the BAC meetings.
Personally, in my opinion, I think it would be a mistake for any of our traditional brace Associations to even consider having a Licensed Association Winnerstake trial. AKC will be tracking the results of all Licensed Derby trials. I think we would do well to concentrate on increasing the entries at the Federation Derby trials. Let’s not look stupid by having any really small Licensed Derby trials at the Associations. Some of the entries will be small enough at the Federations.
Also, if anyone is already thinking about licensing their Association Winnerstake, if you belong to the IBF, think again. All IBF Associations are bound by the IBF Constitution. Presently, Rule G-1, Sec. 1.of the IBF Constitution states:“All Club and Association Derby Winner Stakes shall be divided by size:(a) for dogs and bitches 13” and under, and (b) for dogs and bitches 13” but not over 15”. So, in my opinion, the IBF Constitution would have to be changed before any IBF Association could apply to have it licensed. All licensed trials must offer 4 classes.
All Licensed Derby trials, including the Federation Licensed Derby trials will be required to second series measure all hounds. Qualifying measurements will not be honored and field champions will also have to be measured. I think this is a small price to pay in order to earn some licensed trial points and 1 win that will count towards becoming a field champion.
From our discussions with Mel Stewart, we believe all existing Association and Federation eligibility requirements, such as qualifying or no qualifying, and the various entry fees, will be honored by the AKC in connection with a Licensed Derby Trial.
The March AKC Gazette stated that if either or both of the Beagle Proposals were approved by the Delegates at the June 2017 meeting, federations may start applying for these licensed trial events after October 1, 2017 for trials to be held after January 1, 2018. Well now you know they have been approved.
Below are the Grand Field Champion details.Chapter 9. of the Beagle Field Trial Rules will be modified as follows:
(New) “Section 2. Field Champion Only Stakes. A licensed club, association or federation may, at their option, offer Field Champion only stakes. The FC only stake may be held in conjunction with a club’s regular trial or may be held as a stand-alone FC only trial. A club shall offer no more than two stand-alone FC only trials per calendar year. The FC only trial(s) can be offered in addition to the club’s two regular field trials. If a club chooses to hold a stand-alone FC only trial, the regular trial application fee shall apply. All Rules applying to Beagle Field Trials shall apply to FC only classes unless otherwise specified in this section. To be eligible to participate in a FC only stake a must have been recorded as a FC according to AKC records”.
(New)“Section 7. of Chapter 9. Grand Field Champion Title Requirements. A dog that has been recorded as a Field Champion according to AKC records shall be eligible to earn the Grand Field Champion (GFC) title. Placements and points toward the GFC title shall be earned in stakes open to Field Champions only. To earn a GFC title, a dog must be awarded a minimum of two first placements and 90 points from the FC only stakes. Points shall be calculated in the same manner as used for the FC title. The GFC title will appear in front of the FC title on a dog’s pedigree. Dogs that have earned the GFC title may continue to compete in order to earn GFC numeric titles (GFC2)”.
If a club, association or federation decides to have one or more Licensed Field Champion Only trials, keep in mind that you will have to have 4 classes and you will have to measure all hounds called for second series. You will not be able to combine the females and combine the males or skip the measuring, like you can at a Sanctioned trial.