Ben and Sam were alone on a late Friday afternoon, nursing drams of The Macallan in Ben’s library-conference room.
Sam asked, “What’s the neatest trick you ever saw pulled at a field trial?”
Ben took a sip, and grinned, then chuckled.
“That would have been at the Free-For-All at Sedgefields in the 1980s.
“A young handler had a really talented first-year dog that got called back for the finals. Problem was, he did not have a clue how to handle it in a three-hour heat. He had asked old Fred Eanes to ride front for him, and Fred’s scout Booty Blevins was going to scout for him.
“Fred and Booty talked the night before the dog was to run, its name was Whippersnapper I believe, handler was Billy Culprit, he’s a veteran now.
“Fred said, ‘Booty, I want you to get Billy plumb lost, so he won’t find his way back to the course. Then send Whippersnapper back to me.’ Booty did that. And old Fred won the Free-For-All with him.
“After the decision was announced, Whip’s owner came to Fred, asked him to take the dog for his string. Fred said no, ‘You keep him with Billy. He developed him, he will win with him for you’ and he did. Did because Fred invited Billy to train with him in Canada that next summer, and Fred and Booty taught Billy how to handle Whip, he was sort of an outlaw.”
“That’s a strange sport you follow, and with a lot of strange people too,” Sam said.
“Yes, but they are never dull,” Ben said, and poured them dividends.
Heck of a story !!!!