DRAGHOUNDS
ONCE again, the three packs fighting for the eye of the judges were the Cheshire Farmers, the Berks and Bucks and the Staff College and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Primary judge for the classes was Mike Lane MFH, now joint-master and huntsman of the Atherstone again, assisted by Jane Crease.
There was a strong entry from all three packs for the first unentered doghound class, including two couple from the Berks and Bucks which were a change from their traditional black and tans to some smart rust-coloured hounds. However, they were beaten on this occasion by Nigel Cox’s scopey, wellproportioned blue mottle dog Marmite 16 from the Cheshire Farmers, sired by Grove and Rufford Riddick 13.
Next were the entered and this time the nod was for Andrew Clarke from the Berks and Bucks
with former champion Kimble
13, a stalwart hound for the Berkshire-based professional who has been having a fantastic year on the flags, recently winning the championship at the Machen show in Wales.
The judges quickly moved on to the unentered bitches where, after much deliberation, they settled the black and tans of the Berks and Bucks, placing the super-quick Cypher 16 in the top spot.
The largest class of the day was the entered bitches with nine couples to sort through. After a run-off between SC&RMAS Banwyn 14, Cheshire Farmers Passion 14 and Berks and Bucks Washful 15, Mike Lane lifted his hat to the Cheshire Farmers’ Nigel Cox to place Passion 14 first.
That left the couples class, and having persevered all day with the SC&RMAS hounds young huntsman Luke Chatfield was finally rewarded with the perfectly matched, slight but snappy
Strictly 16 and Stylish 16.
After a second look at the entered doghound and bitch champions, the judges decided to award the championship to Berks and Bucks Kimble 13, who regained the title he won in 2015 as an unentered hound.
It was good to see the marked differences between all three packs’ lines. Mike Lane was highly impressed with all the hounds brought forward and, when asked to comment on the champion, he said: “There is only one thing wrong with Kimble 13 and that is that he is in the wrong kennel and should be coming back to the Atherstone!”
‘The only thing wrong with Kimble 13 is that he is in the wrong kennel’
THE ATHERSTONE’S MIKE LANE ON THE BERKS AND BUCKS’ CHAMPION