The herald., 1898-01-17

One week from today the fifteenth
annual trials of the Pacific Coast Field
Trials club will begin near bakersfield,
and will continue nearly all week. New
er before has there been such general
interest among dog owners throughout
the state, and from the preparations the
eastern sporting papers are making to
secure full particulars of the events,
their readers must also want to know
all about 1t. Arrangements for the
trials are now practically complete. Ar
thur w. Merriman, the leading judge,
will arrive at Bakersfield next Saturday.
He will be assisted in his work by A.
Vandervort of Pasadena and William
Dormer of San Francisco. A better trio
of Judges would be hard to find. Mr..
Merriman has had years of experience
in the east, where he is looked upon as
an authority on kennel matters. The
California gentlemen who will assist him
are also well qualified for their positions,
both having previously officiated in sim
liar capacities at field trials here and
elsewhere.
This years trials promise to be the
most notable ever run in this part of
the country, and in national Importance
they are second only to the United States
field trials, which are run in either Mis-
sissippi or North Carolina. Two events
will be run-the Derby, which is for set
,al,I L,
and which at the beginning of this year
were not over 2 years of age, and the
all-aged stake, in which all dogs are
eligible, without reference to age or
previous winnings. Entries to the Derby
closed last November and were % in
number. The number Of starters has
not been estimated 1t is the habit of
trainers to start only such dogs as, in
their opinion, have a chance of winning,
and in many cases this final decision is
not reached until the very eve of the
trials. 1t is expected that the large ma
jority of the starters will be pointers.
In the list of entries dogs of this breed
outnumbered the settlers more than two
to one.
In the all-aged stake the advantage in
number of starters will be largely in
favor of the settlers. Not only has this
been the case in all previous trials, but
this year setter interest is unusually
keen, by reason of the recent importa-
ton of a number of famous settlers from
the east. The advent of new dogs of high
field ability has aroused the ambition of
California owners and handlers, and,
as a result, unusual care has been taken
In the preparation of the dogs which are
relied upon to uphold the honor of this
state. The setter quality represented by
the known starters in the allaged stake
would be hard to beat in any country.
Southern California will be we'll rep
resented, and Los Angeles has as good
a chance of again carrying off the prizes
as has any other city in the state. There
Is a number of entries from this city.
The most formidable one, and the one
which is most feared by the owners of
fine dogs from other parts of the state
is the setter Valiente, owned by John
Schumacher of this city. This animal
is considered a promising candidate for
first honors.
Valiente ran third in the Derby last
year and displayed very high quality.
His breaking was at fault, and it was due
to that fact that he failed to come much
closer to first honors. The dog has since
been handled with great care and COM
petent judges predict that, if Valiente
is right. lie will this year give the best
of the all-aged candidates hot race.
Valiente has a formidable running
mate from the south in Fandango, owned
by President Keller of the Field Trial
club. Fandango has heretofore dis
played great field quality. This year, like