Lester wins fifth national title for Field Trialing Dogs
Rick Carlisle called the 121st National Championship for Field Trialing Dogs, held recently at Ames Plantation near Grand Junction, Tennessee, the most competitive in recent history.
It was that close, said Carlisle, the secretary-treasurer of event host National Field Trial Champion Association and longtime superintendent at Ames Plantation, an agricultural research center for the University of Tennessee.
However, in the end, it's hard to beat a dog that did everything the Super Bowl of field trialing dogs requires — style, stamina and the ability to locate coveys of quail. While it wasn't a slam dunk, Carlisle, said, the championship went to Miller's Speed Dial, owned and handled by Gary Lester.
And Miller's Speed Dial, whose “call” name is Joe, did it despite all the rain and mud that created some of the toughest quail-finding conditions possible as the nation's top bird dogs competed over a two-week period.
“Three dogs had one or two misses that the judges noted and they went with the dog that did not have any problems, stayed up front, scouted occasionally and had six very good finds (of quail) on his own,” Carlisle said.
Plus, Carlisle said, “He also finished with more energy and enthusiasm than the others and almost as much as he started. It was a fun race to watch and unless you rode and saw all four races (involving the top contenders) it would have been hard to select a winner by just watching one or two races. Each race would have won in the past.”
In other words, it wasn't a slam dunk.
Not that Lester is complaining. He's just glad to claim his fifth national championship, and his fourth in the past six years. Once he got to the Ames Manor House's porch, where the awards are held, and was handed a microphone, Lester admitted he was excited for Joe to win the championship, but before anything he wanted to recognize Robin Gates.
Gates, a handler with multiple national championships, died unexpectedly at his home in Leesburg, Georgia, on Feb. 19, nine days after the national championship began. He won in 2013-14 with Shadow Oak Bo.
“I am just so happy and excited (to win the 2020 title), but we lost our buddy Robin Gates,” Lester said. “It is hard to celebrate when you know Robin's family is hurting so badly. I'd like to say a prayer and ask the Lord to be with Robin's family.”
So, before he ever collected the prize money and all the hardware that goes to the winner, Lester, a man of faith, prayed first for his longtime friend and only then did he acknowledge Miller's Speed Dial's accomplishment, a title he shared with legendary bird dog owner and handler Ferrell Miller.
It was Miller who raised Joe as a pup.
“I thought he had the potential to win the national championship,” said Miller, who is 87 and was at Ames to share in Lester's championship moment despite being slowed by a recent pulled leg muscle. “He is that kind of dog. He loves birds (quail). He has a good nose for birds. He looks good going and coming.”
Miller's Speed Dial competed on the morning brace on Feb. 18, a brace that was delayed an hour due to rain, leaving the course extremely sloppy. It was so wet Lester and scout Mark Haynes had to change tactics.
“My plan was to have the dog hunting every step and point a lot of birds,” Lester said. “I totally changed my plan. I talked to Mr. Ferrell about what we needed to do. He and I always talk. Since the conditions were so bad after the first few days and all the rain we had we decided to rest the dog.”
Other than a one 1-hour, 20-minute workout the weekend before he was to compete, Lester rested the dog until it was time for him to compete. The rest, Lester said, had Joe ready to go — and off he went when his time came.
“We turned him loose and let him go,” Lester said of Joe's performance, when he located six coveys of quail, including his final covey with five minutes left in the three-hour competition. “That's the way I run a dog. But, I also like to win. Once we got him to the front, the dog did everything we asked him to do. He finished strong. He looked like a million dollars on every find.”
There was a time that Lester wasn't sure he'd be able to handle Joe and his other qualifying dog — Lester's Shockwave — in the 2020 Nationals. He had major back surgery last October.
“Man, they cut me wide open,” Lester said. “Mr. Ferrell asked me if I was going to be running dogs. I told him at the time I didn't know, but I hoped so. He told me if I can't run maybe we ought to sell him (Miller's Speed Dial).”
Lester, who said his pain before the surgery made it hard for him to get on a horse, told Miller once his back healed he would take Joe to south Georgia and Florida for quail-finding training and see how his back felt.
“I'd told Mr. Ferrell I wanted to run him in the National one time if I was able,” Lester said. “Thanks to the surgery and the good Lord I am better than I have been for the past six or eight years.”
In other words, Lester, a farmer at heart, isn't ready to quit field trials.
“Mr. Ferrell is my mentor,” Lester said. “He has taught me everything I know about dogs. One thing he said, and I have never forgotten, is that a dog that wins a championship is supposed to look like a champion.”
Miller's Speed Dial, Lester said, didn't just look like a champion. According to the judges, he performed like a champion.
Larry Rea’s outdoors column appears on the first Sunday of each month in The Commercial Appeal; email Larry Rea at lroutdoors@att.net or go to his website at lroutdoors.com; listen to Larry Rea on Outdoors with Larry Rea on Saturday mornings from 6-7:30 on ESPN 790-AM and 92.9 HD FM in Memphis and 1520-AM and 95.3-FM in Brownsville, Tenn., and 6:30-8 on News/talk 101.5 in Jackson, Tenn.