1986 Futurity                                                                        The Chase Magazine                                                                  Dec, 1986- Jan, 1987 Issue                                                                                 Page Four                                                                                                                 Friday Friday morning November 7, 1986 at 8:00 a.m., Jo Ann & Frank Stone, Larry and I left Lexington, Ky.  for my 30th National, Larry's 28th, Jo Ann's 25th and Frank's 23rd.  We've taken a lot of entries in those years and seen a lot of hunters who were so prominent be taken by death, yet some who were there when we started are still going strong, namely, Mose Hill.  He was winning then and he still gets his share, or one of his sons does.  This year we were loaded with our typed entry sheets for 987 hounds.  As we drove along we decided to guess how many starters we would have this year.  I guessed 511, Jo Ann 520, Frank 396 and Larry 450.  You will have to remember our record entry to date had been 365, but we were figuring more or less half of the total August entries. it was a rather overcast day all the way and we ran in and out of small periods of rain and when we got through Charlotte we began to pick up areas of fog.  The only stipulation about this trip is that I must arrive by 9:00 to see Dallas, so we made it and while the rest went up for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, I made myself comfortable for the show.                                                                                                            SATURDAY Saturday was a nice warm day and when we started taking entries at 12:00 it looked like it used to look on Sunday morning.   Incidentially we have been asked by some hunters to start taking entries at 10:00 as they still can't get their hounds numbered in time for the Bench Show Sunday afternoon.  We really do not mind doing it and talked briefly with Phyllis and Jim who had no quarrel with it.  We have to work it out with them because we can't take entries unless they sell memberships first.  I would suggest that you watch the ad next year to see if this is done.  You realize that we will stop taking them earlier, probably at 2:00 if we start at ten as that would be four hours.   We were a little late getting started as we were trying to take care of the dead places and the transfers before we started assigning numbers. Chase President Ralph Hazelip welcomed all the hunters to the Chase Futurity.  Jim Million instructed them on how the chips would be drawn.  Phyllis Million and Nancy Verling were handling the memberships, while Pat Davis sold the collars. In our crew, Frank called the hunters from the membership list, Jo Ann & I took the entries, and when we completed a sheet we passed it to Larry to be numbered, recorded, punched and placed in a notebook.  This is used only to locate a hound's owner and on the day we get ready to do the sheets.  This is an excellent way to work things out for the Master of Hounds and help whoever is writing the sheet be able to locate them in a hurry.  If you would like to see how we do it, just drop by the office sometimes and well show you.  Jimmy came up with an excellent ideal when he thought this system up.  When we finished it was almost 5:00 and most of the Futurity hounds were already entered. We rushed up to the Little Bo's Steak House for dinner and when we returned the hunters were congregating for the dance that is held on Saturday night each year at the Holiday Inn.  There seemed to be a good attendance and the hunters and spouses look forward to this each year.  Incidentially the food at the Holiday Inn was outstanding this year.  The buffet they served both at noon and night seemed to go over well and certainly gave us a break from the same old motel menus that you have year after year.                                                                                                        SUNDAY Sunday dawned a gorgeous morning and we were again taking Futurity entries.  We finished with them, started writing off the bench show sheets and even had time for lunch, too. So our days had reversed- we had no lunch on Saturday this year.  I was still taking late comers in my room at 8:00 and we ended up with 514 Chase Futurity entries.  Jimmy had put in 500 chips and he had to add 25 more so we really didn't have too much trouble numbers the sheet this year, very few skipped numbers - in fact, none before 499.  I did one set of the sheets for the Master of Hounds and Jo Ann did the duplicate.  Then I numbered the judges roll call cards and everything was given to the Master for early roll call on Monday.  It's too bad there isn't some place that could reduce the original sheets so that the master would not have to do two sets of sheets each day.  That is a lot of work for any trial and for this one it meant 36 sheets had to be done each day.                                                                                                  MONDAY MORNING We left a 5:45 call as we knew it would take a long time for the master to check the hounds through.  Only one hound had been numbered incorrectly and he was able to get it corrected by the time they were cast.  A couple had switched numbers on hounds Sunday, but had called us and we had corrected them. Master of Hounds Hansford Alderman had everything under control and he said he had an excellent group of judges to work with.   Although they finished the roll call at 6:25 he held the hounds until 6:30 which means the first day of the Futurity would be called at 11:30.   The hounds hit the game not too long after they left the casting ground and we were able to hear a lively race for a little while as we visited the different people around the casting ground. We were not to have too much running this first day as the East wind began to blow not long after the hounds were cast.  We visited with quite a few people standing around this morning.  We were certainly pleased to see that Mr. & Mrs. John Blumenschein had made it down from Pennsylvania.  I had talked with John a few days before and he wasn't too sure they would be able to make it.  With them were Mr. & Mrs. Ray Mumaw, close friends and fellow hunters from Pa. Ken and Grace Downey made it down from Massachusetts again, as did the Casey's, Roland Cook, and then there were the Tetreaults from Rhode Island. Several people come down for the bench show and then leave.  We were glad to see Orville & Jane Yeary from Ohio in attendance this year.  We were also delighted to see that Mr. Jack Criswell had made it for the bench show.  I don't know how long he stayed, but assume he went back early.  He has promised to do the true story of Tennessee Lead, as he had researched it through the years.  Mr. Foster Zipperer from Georgia was there again this year.  Fred 7 Nellie Gross, the ageless couple, stayed for the whole hunt.  Every day I would tell her she'd better start home before the weather turned bad, but they stayed right there and Ralph & Jean chauffered them around the hunting grounds and to the eating places.  So many of our hunters are getting up in age, but they still return year after year to the great National Foxhunt.  Another one who comes from Kentucky every year and is also in his 80's is George Cook.  Mr. Cook loves to visit with people from anywhere and he seems to enjoy himself from the time he arrives until he leaves.  I supposed he drove down by himself, but I didn't check it out this year. It was so good to see Mrs. W. O Hendrix and meet their daughter.  Louise Campbell drove them down for the bench show.  Louise and Mrs. Hendrix both look quite well, and Mr. Hendrix had a beautiful daughter he didn't bring to show off.  Quint & Ike Johnson stopped in for the bench show and Ike might have come back for the All-Age.  Dr. Ben Willard and Tina were only able to stay for the bench show as her son is critically ill, a young doctor, dying of cancer.  We saw them just briefly on Sunday night while they were eating dinner, so didn't want to interrupt their dinner with a long conversation. I don't know how many Canadians made the trip down but we talked with Francis & Madeline Saul, Ian McCormick and Steve Watts.  We missed the ones of you who couldn't make it this year.  Dr. Camp had planned to try to come, but was hospitalized at the time with an infection and couldn't make it.  Fred Ellis was in the process of selling his home (14 rooms is too much for two people) and the closing date was right at National time.  Mr. Fred Stowe had had surgery not too long before the National and couldn't be there.   J. T. English had also had surgery, but I believe he was around some that week, although I personally did not see him.  It was good to see Gene Clark from Indiana back at the National, but he had to leave early as he received word that his sons home had burned and they felt they should get home to be with them.  We missed the Edward Corkers (those two happy people from Virginia).  Their son Donnie who had been with them at the National last year, was in a terrible truck accident - in fact it took 6 hours for them to get him out of the vehicle and he was smashed up so badly they weren't sure he was going to make it.   He is home now and Mr. & Mrs. Buddy Mills report he is making a remarkable recovery.  We certainly wish him a complete recovery soon so that he can return to his job, as I know these people are workers and he is probably bored stiff sitting around.   Things come up at the last minute that keep some people home and we want you all to know you were missed, even if you are not mentioned in this paragraph.                                                                                                             *********** When the sheets were posted the first day 132 hounds had been eliminated for one reason or another.  You will see the sheets in the magazine and since they are already at the printer, we cannot give you the breakdown on the eliminations.   The high scored hounds the first day were 115, 234 and 374, owned by Tim Arnold, Murray's Foxhound Kennels and Mose Bush Hill, respectively.