2018 Finals Schedule
As luck would have it, the wet weather that we’ve been seeing for several weeks has impacted our Finals.  The ground at Ashcraft Ranch is saturated, and some more rain is likely during the week.  This has caused some modifications to our Finals and revisions to the what we had planned in an earlier Update.  We’re afraid that any more rain will make the “upper field” unusable to vehicular traffic (if it’s not already).  Consequently, we have revised the plan to now use the fields as we did before we changed the layout a couple of years ago.  This means the Open classes (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) will be in the field north of Pat’s house.  Access to the Open field will be via the road that runs in front of Pat’s house.  The lower classes (Friday and Saturday) will be held in the field adjacent to Pat’s barn that contains the round pen.  The “upper field” from last year will not be used.

Camper parking will be in the area between Pat’s barn and the county road, which is where we have traditionally parked.  Please do not park (or drive) past the line of T-posts or drive on any areas that have been planted. 
For Open, the handlers’ meeting on Thursday and Friday will be at 6:45 am, with a first dog at 7:00.  The handlers’ meeting on the Novice field will be 8:00.  The class order on the Novice field will be Open Ranch, Ranch, Novice, Nursery.  Depending on time, Nursery may be run on the Open field.
For the both Friday (Silent Auction) and Saturday (banquet/awards dinner) evening, the plan is to begin gathering around 6:00 pm and serve the meal about 6:30.  Pat is hosting the meal on Friday and the proceeds from the Silent Auction is paying for the banquet.  The Friday night meal will start with wine and cheese and be followed by barbecue and all the trimmings. The banquet this year will be chicken fajitas, rice, beans, etc.  There is nothing official planned for Thursday evening. 

For points and premium money, each “go” will be treated as a separate trial.  Points earned will go to the current (2018) year, so it is possible end of year standings could be impacted by performance at the Finals.  For premium money, each class will have a separate pool which is $55 of your entry fee (the other $20 goes to TSDA expenses) multiplied by the number of entries in that class.  For all classes except Open, the 20% of the premium pool will be paid out for each of the first and second goes.  The combined scores will be averaged over the two goes, and these will be ranked and treated like a go.  The remaining 60% of the class pool will be paid to the high combined scores.  Our shorthand is “20/20/60.”

Since Open has a double-lift final, the payout is a little different:  20/20/40/20.  Twenty per cent will paid to the top scorers in each of the first and second goes.  The combined (or average) scores will receive 40% of the Open pool, and the remaining 20% will be distributed to the winners of the double-lift.  In every case, the distributions will be according to TSDA guidelines.

The Open field will be set up Wednesday afternoon.  All assistance is welcome and appreciated.  Brent Phelps is responsible for that field, so follow his lead.  During the Open trial on Thursday (the only class running on Thursday), the Novice field will be set up.  Jack Christensen is in charge of that one.  People assisting should bring gloves and a pair of pliers.  We’ll need ty-wraps to put up the burlap.  If you need to buy ty-wraps, the 8” length works best.  With enough help, we can get the fields taken down Saturday afternoon, and everyone can head for home Sunday morning.

John Lewis