THE AMERICAN BRITTANY CLUB
FUTURITIES
by Ella Conable
The American Brittany Club Futurity - a breeder’s stake - was started as a eld
event in the late 1940’s. Those who were breeding bitches and wished to participate in
the rst trial, paid a forfeit on bitches bred after October 30, 1946. An additional forfeit
was due when the puppies were whelped in 1947. The following summer (August 1948)
an individual nomination was due on any pups the owners deemed were of a quality to
compete in the stake. A nal fee was due on those same pups just before the stake was
run. After expenses were deducted, the monies were divided among the four placing
dogs with 2/3 of the purse going to the owners of the winners and 1/3 going to the
breeders. This rst stake was held near Detroit and run in September, before the trial
season began. Peg B of Loufel, owned, bred and handled by Lucien Ufford was the
winner. The next couple of years the Futurity was held at Crab Orchard, IL, in conjunction
with the Illinois Brittany Club’s fall trial. In 1951 it was again at Crab Orchard, but this
time as part of the Nationals, where it remained (except for the 1967 Futurity) until 1974.
The Futurity was strictly a eld event until 1963 when Ann White inaugurated the
Bench Futurity. In this event, the dogs are separated by sex into three age brackets:
senior, intermediate and junior. The three class winners compete for rst place; a reserve
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winner (second money) and a second reserve (third money) are chosen in each sex. First
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place dog and bitch compete for the two top money spots: Best In Futurity and Best of
Opposite Sex to Best in Futurity. The forfeits for the bench futurity are paid in the same
manner as the eld forfeits. Doc’s Shotgun Popper, owned by Dr. John Schuckert, won
Best in Futurity at the inaugural event. Best of Opposite Sex went to Holley Haven Marty
Star. The show was judged by Jerome Halle who had also judged the rst ABC Specialty
Show. With the addition of a bench futurity, a Dual Award was also offered in 1963. It
was to be given to the dog who placed in the eld and either placed in the show against
competition or was a champion at the time of the show. The rst Dual Award went to
Pinoak Sue, owned by Dave and Mable Olund in 1963.
When the Bench Futurity was begun, breeders had the option of nominating
their litter for eld, bench or both. In 1967 the Futurity rules were changed so that a
litter nomination covered both eld and bench and the choice was made by the owner
at the time of the nal forfeit. At about this same time, the ABC was being pressured
by the AKC to make the Futurities AKC Sanctioned events. This would have had little
impact on the Bench Futurity other than requiring that Futurity entries also be entered
in a regular class in the Specialty Show. The Field Futurity presented a bigger problem
in that it allowed the running of bitches in season, unheard of in AKC trials at that time.
When it became apparent that conditions at Crab Orchard were making the running
of the Nationals increasingly difficult, and with little hope of improvement, the Lake
Murray Grounds at Ardmore were offered as one alternative. As a way of “checking them
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