Keeper Earns His AFC

The field trial season began in January with Platte River, Oklahoma #1 and #2, and North Texas. Keeper performed well in these four trials, but luck (a big part of field trialing), did not go our way. We did not get a single 3rd series callback at these four January trials and I was getting pretty discouraged. Then in February things began to turnaround for us. Beginning with the Houston trial, then the two Hall of Fame trials in Tennessee followed by Missouri, Keeper finished every trial we entered. He took 4th in both the Houston and one of the Hall of Fame Amateur stakes and was “chipping away” at the 5 points we needed for his title at the beginning of the year.

After Tennessee we headed west with eight trials behind us and and two Colorado trials to go before I would hand Keeper back over to Gary Riddle in Utah. I decided to enter Keeper in only the first of the Colorado trials which would be our final chance to reach my goal for this spring…Keeper’s AFC. He needed 3 more points.

“Nicely done, Bill Brockett! Keeper put on a heck of a show!”
— Judge Dean Koehler

The first day of the Rocky Mountain trial near Holyoke, Colorado was brutal with blizzards of sleet and snow all day for the Open All-Age. Keeper and I ran on Sunday with less snow but brutal cold. Because of the weather, many handlers spent time in warm vehicles and did not see the other dogs run. At the end of the trial I knew we had a very good day but had no idea if Keeper would place. There were only a handful of people remaining in the parking lot when the judges announced that Keeper had won the trial and finished his AFC. Mission accomplished!

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