AKC Retriever Field Trials (1951-2006)
This is based on data from The Retriever Field Trial  News. Note: Neither the AKC nor The Retriever
Field Trial News track the number of Golden entries in Field Trials. They do list the number of
each breed who obtained points that year. The do not list the number who competed but did not
earn any points.
The following graph shows that just on the basis of starters/trial, Open and Amateur are
growing more difficult since the number of possible placements at each trial has not changed.
  Open Field Trials in 2003
 Open Field Trials in 2006
 Open Field Trials in 2007
Number Retrievers who
obtained points
 438
 475
 466
% Labs
 95.4%
 94.7%
 95.9%
% Goldens
 2.5%
 4.0%
 2.8%
% Chessies
 2.1%
 1.3%
 1.3%
Number with a FC
 186
 186
 201
Number with an AFC
 153
 149
 146
Median Starts
 16
 16
 16
Maximum Starts
 31
 30
 29
Median Wins
 0
 0
 0
Maximum Wins
 6
 5
 6
Median Placements
 1
 1
 1
Maximum Placements
 13
 11
 10
Median Points
 3
 3
 3.5
Maximum Points
 44.5
 30.5
 39.5
We know the number of retrievers who earned points in Open Field Trials in 2007 but how many retrievers competed
in total?

In 2007 the AKC listed 15106 starters in Open Field Trials for Retrievers. Field Trials Retriever News statistics show
that 466 retrievers earned points in 2007 and had a total of 7388 starts. Thus 15106 -7388 = 7718 starts were by
retrievers who did not earn any points. In 2007 those who earned points in Open had a mean of 15.85 starts that
year. If those who did not earn any points had the same mean number of starts then we can estimate that 487
retrievers competed that year without earning any points. If the mean number of starts for those without points
is assumed to be lower than that for those with points then the number without points will be greater than 487.