Liver colored Flat-Coated Retriever running in the field with a duck in his mouth.

FCRSA Field Trial History & Results

The FCRSA Field Trial made its debut in the year 2000, at the Kentucky Specialty.  The goal was, and remains, to increase the participation of Flat Coated Retrievers in the sport of field trialing, and to provide an arena for more to earn Qualified All-Age status.   An even more ambitious hope is to eventually develop a pool of Qualified All-Age Flat Coats in order to one day host an Amateur Field Trial, in addition to the introductory Derby and Qualifying stakes.  By this means, the possibility exists that the process toward the title, AFC, can be facilitated and bestowed upon other Flat Coated Retrievers in the future.  In order to hold an Amateur stake in conjunction with a Specialty, 12 Flat Coats who are Qualified All-Age must run (as opposed to just entering) in the event.  As of this writing in 2011, our breed has but one AFC to its credit, CH AFC Jon-Lee’s Spring Valley Atari, WCX, who earned his title in 1987, and was owned by long-time FCRSA member, Eleanor Bertz Trew.  Atari is also the only Flat Coat ever to have qualified for and run in a National Amateur Field Trial.

The impetus for this goal originated with a handful of FCRSA members who ran their Flat Coats in all-breed field trials.  These people include, but are not limited to: Priscilla Johnson, Eleanor Bertz Trew, Bunny Millikin, Margot Brown, Sally Bridges, Rebecca Whitmeyer, Biz Reed, Heather Stewart, and Ann Steer.  Each of these people had the vision to see the Flat Coated Retriever as an able competitor.     Between the years 2000 and 2010, some dozen Flat Coated Retrievers have become Qualified All-Age by placing first or second at FCRSA Specialty Field Trials.  Each of these trials now attracts 20 to 30 dogs to the Qualifying stake.   A number of handlers first introduced to trials through the Specialty stakes have begun to successfully compete in all-breed trials.

–Doris Ehret & Priscilla Johnson

FCRSA SPECIALTY FIELD TRIAL Placements and JAMs