The Winner Is...

The Winner of the Inaugural National Retriever Derby Championship in Sedalia, Missouri is....

 23. MAPLEPOND GREAT EXPECTATION, "Tug" LM

Owned by Charles Bearden

Handled by Jason Baker

The Finalists

And the Finalists are...

(18 Finalists)

1. HOCKLEY CREEK'S SOUTHPAW, "Lefty," LM, Robby Bickley

2. HOLLAND CLIFFS BLADE A FINE LINE, "Dozer," LM, Alvin Hatcher

7. QUACKADDICT'S HEAVY HITTER, "Blitz," LM, Hunter Street

8. MY JACK OF HEARTS, "Jack," LM, James Roberts

9. BUCKHEAD'S A DOG NAMED DESIRE, "Stella," LF, Jason Baker

10. RIDGECREST'S NO RHYME OR REASON, "Nora," LF, Betsy Broyd

13. MY ROCKS BORROWED TIME AT YELLOWTALE, "Lulu," LF, Clint Avant

15. BEAVERDAM'S LAS VEGAS ACE, "Ace," LM, Martha Russell

16. DOUBLE CREEK'S BLACK MAGIC, "Maddie," LF, Jason Baker

17. WHITEWATER'S SUSITNA SUSIE, "Susie," LF, Bill Barstow

23. MAPLEPOND GREAT EXPECTATION, "Tug," LM, Jason Baker

25. WOLF RIVER'S DIRTY MAX, "Max," LM, Chris Christopher

30. VINSON'S NEZ BOUEUX NOIR ZEKE, "Zeke," LM, James Vinson

34. SANDHILL FIRST CLASS, "First," LM, Brad Arington

35. TIPPECANOE'S SHEAMUS, "Amos," LM, George Wamsley

36. BIRD CREEK'S DOC HOLIDAY, "Doc," LM, Chuck Cagle

39. TRUCKEE TOO, "Truckee," LM, Jack Unbehaun

42. GOOD IDEA'S PUNT WITH A NORTH WIND, "Punt," LF, Brad Arington

SCRAPBOOK – CLOSING CEREMONY

The Winner! Jason Baker with "Tug" – Maplepond Great Expectations

The Closing Awards Ceremony was held at the base of Swede's Hill

Eugene "Swede" Anderson was smiling down on all of us!

A view from the top

The National Derby Championship Trophy

The "Keeper" after the trophy is passed on to a new winner next year

The Official Photographer, Deana Wolfe

The Finalists

The Finalists

The Winner! Jason Baker with "Tug" – Maplepond Great Expectations

C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S !!

Test 8 In The Books

That is it.  The 8th series of the National Retriever Derby Championship is in the books at 2:42 pm.

Stay tuned to find out who the Finalists are .... and who will be the Winner!

34. SANDHILL FIRST CLASS, "First", LM, Brad Arington

Left - "First" got the down the hill and across the pond up and through the fall area.  Missed on the right a few steps deep them turned back left to the bird.

Retired - He got down the hill and across the middle pond and straight to the fall and the bird.  WOW!!

30. VINSON'S NEZ BOUEUX NOIR ZEKE, "Zeke", LM, James Vinson

Left - "Zeke" went down the hill and into the pond.  He swam to the far right side and climbed the hill staying in front of the guns.  He got a little deep then did a quick turn back down to his bird.

Retired - He had a perfect line down the hill, across the levee and up the far hill to the fall area.  He missed it and drove deep before he did a quick turn right and back down to his bird.

23. MAPLEPOND GREAT EXPECTATION, "Tug", LM, Jason Baker

Left - "Tug" got down the hill into the pond.  He swam the right side and climbed the hill in front of the guns.  One turn left and down to his bird.

Retired - He got down hill into the middle pond and climbed the hill straight to the bird - SMACK!

25. WOLF RIVER'S DIRTY MAX, "Max", LM, Chris Christopher

Left - "Max" got down the hill and across the levee.  He climbed the hill staying in front of the guns.  He got a little deep before turning left and coming back down to the bird.

Retired - He ran down the hill and across the levee.  Perfect line to the fall area, a little deep but a quick turn and drilled it.

17. WHITEWATER'S SUSITNA SUSIE, "Susie", LF, Bill Barstow

Left - "Susie" went down the hill into the pond and swam across on a good angle to the bird.  She went up the hill and got it!

Retired - She ran down hill into the water and climbed the hill to the left of the blind, one loop deep and turned into the cover and the bird.

16. DOUBLE CREEK'S BLACK MAGIC, "Maddie", LF, Jason Baker

Left - "Maddie" ran down the hill into the pond and swam straight across.  She climbed the hill staying in front of the guns and a little deep but then quickly came back left and down to the bird.

Retired - She went down the hill, across the left side fo the big pond and into the woods wide right.  She came out of the woods on the bird.

15. BEAVERDAM'S LAS VEGAS ACE, "Ace", LM, Martha Russell

Left - "Ace" rand the levee straight up the hill in front of the guns.  He took two loops deep then down the left to his bird.

Retired - He went down the hill and cross the levee and straight up to the fall area then to his bird.

Retriever FYI

We want to thank David Colwell, the Official Sketch Artist for the Derby National for providing us all the test set-up diagrams for this event and for their use on the blog.

But since they were for the use of the Judges and were used to set up the Official Test Books, the lines on the diagrams lead to the GUNS and not the birds. (This is kind of opposite from the normal diagrams you might be used to seeing on the blog.) We wanted to let you know so that it would be easier for you to better understand the tests and in relation to their descriptions.

13. MY ROCKS BORROWED TIME AT YELLOWTALE, "Lulu", LF, Clint Avant

Left - "Lulu" ran down the hill and toe nailed the pond.  She went up the hill and hooked the guns and out to her bird.

Retired - She went down the hill then crossed the right side of the middle pond.  Got up in front of the guns then went deep and left before coming back to the right and hunting up her bird.

10. RIDGECREST'S NO RHYME OR REASON, "Nora", LF, Betsy Broyd

Left - "Nora" went down the hill and across the levee in front of the guns.  She got a little deep but made a quick turn to the left and back down to her bird.

Retired - She went down the hill and swam across the middle of the pond.  She drove the hill left of the blind to the top hill a few times before coming down the right side and to her bird.

9. BUCKHEAD'S A DOG NAMED DESIRE, "Stella", LF, Jason Baker

Left - "Stella" went down the hill and across the pond to the far right corner.  She went straight up staying in front of the guns.  She turned left behind the brush pile and straight to her bird.

Retired - She went down the hill and across the middle of the pond.  She went up to the left of the blind, turned left for one loop then came across right all the way to her bird.

8. MY JACK OF HEARTS, "Jack", LM, James Roberts

Left - "Jack" took the levee and up the far side.  He looped behind the guns, turned left qnd came back down to his bird.

Retired - He went down the hill across the pond up the hill wide right to the tree line.  He worked his way back left along the cover to the bird.

7. QUACKADDICT'S HEAVY HITTER, "Blitz", LM, Hunter Street

Left - "Blitz" went down the hill across the levee.  He drove up under the arc of the fall and got a little deep but quickly came back down to the left and his bird.

Retired - He got down the hill and across the levee under the arc of the throw.  He quickly turned back right and down to his bird.

2. HOLLAND CLIFFS BLADE A FINE LINE, "Dozer", LM, Alvin Hatcher

Left - "Dozer" went down the hill and caught right front corner of the pond then quickly out and on across the levee.  He went up the hill in front of the guns and got deep.  He came back around to the left and down to his bird.

Retired - He went down across the levee and right angled across the field in front of the guns.  He got a little deep then right and back to the bird.

1. HOCKLEY CREEK'S SOUTHPAW, "Lefty", LM, Robby Bickley

Left - "Lefty" went down the hill and across the pond on a great line.  He went right going up the hill and behind the guns.  A big turn deep then back down and left to the bird.

Retired - He went down and across the middle water. He continued up the hill staying in front of the guns then crossed the field left to right and directly to his bird.

Weather for the 8th Series

Our afternoon weather is a nice 72 degrees.  The sun is shining and warm.  We do have a south wind at 14 mph.

Let's hope the weather stays nice and calm as the afternoon continues.