Handler Information

The dates for the 2012 Bluegrass Classic will be May 16-20th.

Dear Handlers: 
We all appreciate your patience waiting to hear the details about this year’s Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial.  Finding sheep this year has proven to be quite a challenge and has caused quite an increase to the funds we must raise to hold the trial.   

The trial will be held May 16 to 20 at Masterson Station Park in Lexington Kentucky. 

We are bringing our trial out of the dark ages this year and will be taking entries on line through DogTrialEntry.com.  This will avoid all of the stress of getting to the post office for the proper post mark date – a nightmare last year as many of you remember the blizzard that shut down nearly half of the US on the entry opening date. 

We have developed a plan for the entries that should eliminate the need for anyone to be rushed to enter this year.  

Here is how the process will work. Entries will open at 12:01 AM Eastern time on March 15th.  In order to avoid a mad rush on the system at this time, we are giving a 48 hour period for entering to be placed in the initial draw.  If you enter at any time during this 48 hour period, you will be considered entered on the first opening date and will go into the first draw for all classes that have draws.  

In other words, if you go on-line to DogTrialEntry.com and enter any time between 12:01 AM EST on March 15th and 11:59 PM EST on March 16th, that will be the same as if you had your entry post marked on the first opening date under the old snail mail entry system. 

Please understand that during this initial 48 hour entry period, you will not be placed ahead of any other handler in the draw based on the time entered, so there is no need to stay up until midnight on March 14th so you can enter first.  You can go to bed on Wednesday the 14th, wake up on Thursday the 15th and have all day to enter.  If you forget, you can wake up in the middle of the night and enter, or just sleep soundly – you will still have all day Friday the 16th to enter, up to 11:59 PM that night.   

Entries will remain open until April 15th at 11:59 PM EST, and you may enter any class up until that time.  However, any entry that is received after the initial 48 hour entry period will be entered or placed on the wait list based on date and time of entry. 

So in summary, here is how the draws will be determined: 

1.       All entries received between 12:01 AM EST March 15, 2012 and 11:59 PM EST March 16, 2012  (A FULL  48 HOURS) will go into the first draw for all classes without consideration of date and time received.

2.       All entries received after 11:59 PM EST March 16, 2012 will be entered or placed on wait lists (as required) based on date and time received.

Open entries will be determined in the same manner as the past few years.  

We can accept 130 Open entries.  

Here is the order of entry: 

1.       For all Open entries received during the initial 48 hour entry period:

a.       First, each Open handler will be entered with one Open dog.  If more than 130 handlers with Open dogs enter during the initial 48 hour entry period, a draw will be conducted for these handlers with their first Open dog.  Handlers drawing above number 130 will placed on the wait list in the order drawn.

b.      All  handler’s with second Open dogs will then be drawn and placed in the  order  drawn on the wait list (below any first dogs on the wait list, if any).

2.       All Open entries received after the initial 48 hour entry period will be placed on the wait list by the date and time received.  If a handler submits an entry with 2 Open dogs after the initial 48 hour entry period, both Open dogs will be placed on the wait list by the date and time received.  (In other words, there is no preference for first Open dogs for entries submitted after the initial 48 hour entry period.)

For entries to all other classes, draws, if required, will be held as follows: 

1.       All entries received during the initial 48 hour entry period will be placed in the first draw with up to 2 dogs per handler per class. If the volume of entries warrants, we will draw in the same manner as Open – all handlers will get in with a first dog before any handler gets in with a second dog.

2.       After the first draw, entries of 3 or more dogs in a class received during the initial 48 hour entry period will be drawn and placed on the wait list.

3.       All entries received (any number of dogs) after the initial 48 hour entry period will be placed on the wait list by date and time of submission.

There will be some further details for how to submit your entries on DogTrialEntry.comas the opening date approaches.  It is really quite simple.  We will ask you to submit separate entries and separate checks for your second Open dogs and any third dogs in any other class.  You receive an immediate e-mail confirmation of your entry from DogTrialEntry.com, so no more frantic waiting to see if your entry arrives safely in Kentucky.  (Make sure your e-mail  address is up to date on DogTrialentry.comif you haven’t used it in a while) 

You will still have to mail your check to Kentucky and it must be post marked within 7 days of your entry submission or by April 15th, whichever is earlier.   If you enter during the first 48 hours that entries are open, we will consider your check mailed on time if it is post marked no later than March 24th. (so if you enter on the 15th you get an extra day).   Checks that are not post marked within 7 days of entry will cause the entry to be placed at the bottom of the wait list.  You will receive an e-mail confirmation when your check is received, so if you do not get a confirmation for receipt of your check in a reasonable amount of time, contact me dee@marquisequine.com   I will make every effort to notify handlers if their checks don’t arrive within a reasonable amount of time from their entry submission, but it is the handler’s responsibility to ensure their check is received. 

If you have not used www.dogtrialentry.com before, you will need to go there to create a log-in ID and password and register your dogs.  You can do that before the entry start date of March 15, so that you will be ready to go when entries open. You can also browse the site and become familiar with it, and ask any necessary questions.   The first trial listed on the site is a fake trial you can enter  to see how the system works.  If you have questions, first look at the Help/FAQ page – it will tell you everything you  need to know. If you need assistance at any point before or during the entry process, help is available through the site or by contacting me.   We will have all help resources listed as we approach the entry opening date. 

Thank you all for your continued support of the Bluegrass. As always, we require lots of volunteers to make the trial happen so please let us know if you can help.