When January comes
I will be here at home
First time since 1994
Won’t be at Chinquapin
The second week
Of that cold month at home
I spent in North Florida
From 1995 through 2022 Read more
When January Comes
Category: Field Trial Recollections
A Brace at Ames
The year was 1938. The place was the Ames Plantation at Grand Junction, Tennessee, 55 miles east of the Mississippi River at Memphis. The event was the National Bird Dog Championship. It had been held most years since 1896, and here since 1901. The subject of this story is the winning performance and the players in it, canine, equine and human. Read more
How the Florida Open All-Age Championship Was Different
1. No mud — ever, on Chinquapin Farm, even after heavy rain. No creeks, much less rivers. Three man-dug ponds, one at Big House, one on second morning hour course, one on second hour afternoon course. Soil: sand over lime rock, everywhere. Cover: wire grass, everywhere. No crop fields. No wooded areas that cannot be ridden through on horseback.
Read more
Bound to Happen
After Ben Reach read it on the internet he said to Sam at Breakfast next morning at Millie’s Diner, “It was bound to happen eventually. I wonder if it has happened before and no one ever knew.”
The “it” was this. And the “it” has a long and short version. The short one: the National Champion bird dog of 2023 was discovered to be an impostor. Read more
The Saddest Tale
You can talk about your endurance tests
And yes, Ames is one with its three hours in West Tennessee
And the Livingston Place for its hour fifty in briars and Florida heat
(But you must not call it Dixie Plantation for both them words ain’t woke)
And four hours down at Paducah in three days is a worthy test I guess
But the toughest of all
Was at Sedgefields West ( Mr. Jimmy’s Sedgefields )
In the National Free-For-All Read more
The Luckiest Dog
Who was the luckiest pointing dog that ever lived?
His name was In the Shadow, call name “Buster,” and the story of his life holds many lessons and many joys. Read more
Memorable Dogs and Men at Chinquapin
As we lament the loss of Ted Baker, we remember some great dogs that showed their stuff at Chinquapin and the characters who owned (or were owned by) and handled them.
We start with some of Ted’s. All know the story of Builder’s Addition, National Champion of 1980 and first winner of the Florida after it became a Championship in 1979. It cemented a bond between Ted and co-owner T. Jack Robinson and between them and handler Bill Rayl. And their love of the Invitational, which it won and came Runner-Up in twice. All three men and Builder’s Addition adorn the Hall of Fame. Read more
43 Years of The Florida Open All-Age Championship
1979 CH: Builder’s Addition, PM (Builder’s Risk x Bearwallow Babe), Fred Rayl R-U: Triple Squeeze, PM (Endurance x Silver Springs), Bob Lamb 1980 CH: Blackbelt, PM (Flush’s Country Squire x Quailwood’s Sally), Freddie Epp R-U: Arcanum’s Hurricane, PM (White Knght’s Button x Arcanum’s West Wind), Charlie Cameron 1981 CH: Texas Squire’s Hank, PM (The Texas Squire x Fast Delivery Jane), John Rex Gates R-U: Annex, PM (Builder’s Addition x Highway Read more
Mr. Ted
I loved Ted Baker like all of us
‘Cause he loved us in spite of us
He gave us a place that was ideal
To run the Sunshine and the Florida for 60 years Read more
If You Want to Win at Chinquapin
If you want to win at Chinquapin
Bring a dog with nose and hunt
One that hits the cover hard
But floats across the sand Read more