Lowther Hound Show
Outstanding Welsh hound takes the overall foxhound championship at Lowther
CONWY VALLEY Gaynor 15 took the coveted overall foxhound champion prize at Lowther, elegant and regal as she was perfectly positioned on the flags by Jake Jones, 18-year-old son of Conwy Valley huntsman Jason Jones, in his smart tweed livery. It is thought that a Welsh foxhound has never claimed this honour before, but she was so outstanding in her immaculate confirmation and grace that a huge cheer went up around the ring when her victory was announced.
“For organisers to put the Welsh hound classes on showed great foresight and it was a timely reminder of the contribution this type of hound makes to the hunting world,” explained Ian McKie, who judged the Welsh foxhounds with great aplomb. “The classes were well supported and it was a great sporting effort by everyone who made the journey north. The winning entered bitch confirmed her quality with the rest of the judges when taking the overall supreme championship, to the delight and emotion of all her connections.”
Gaynor’s sire and dam were both Pembrokeshire hounds, but the Conwy Valley also took the entered doghound and reserve champion Welsh foxhound with Grafter 15, another exceptional example of his type and this time entirely home-bred.
The Llanwrthwl and the Teme Valley took the two unentered classes and the Gelligaer Farmers had a good showing throughout, particularly with their Dimple 15, who was second in the entered bitch and unlucky to come up against such a quality bitch as Gaynor.
HILL HOUNDS
THE hill hound classes were the largest of the day with 13 packs shown in front of the judges, Eddie Braithwaite, former chairman of the Lunesdale, and Roger Westmoreland, who is chairman of the Central Committee of Fell Packs.
The prizes were well spread out, but the Welsh packs were to the fore with their stallion hounds. The Teme Valley won the class with their Growler 14 and the Eryri took second and third place with two home-bred brothers, Saracen and Soldier 13. David Savage, huntsman of the Teme Valley, who inherited the role from his late father Roy and whose brother Ian is joint-master of the North Tyne, has both hill hounds and Welsh hounds in his pack. Quite remarkably, he hunts the two together with great success and was kept busy running between the Welsh and the hill hound rings.
The College Valley won the entered doghound class with the tough-looking, workmanlike Monarch and the North Tyne’s experienced huntsman Andrew Robb had a well-balanced runnerup in their Royal 16.
Thomas Scott, joint-master of the Border Foxhounds, who kennels the pack on his own farm, had a smashing unentered doghound, Grafter, by their Stormer, a typical Border type from this hardy pack where only 30 hounds hunt three or sometimes four days per week.
The College Valley and North Northumberland produced Lavender 13, by their well-used sire Rochdale 11, to win the veteran hound — an important class as longevity in a hound is such a valuable trait that is too often overlooked in the race to use a stallion hound or brood bitch before it is truly tested in its work. College Valley Whiskey 14 won the brood bitch class, “having just raised 13 strong puppies”, according to senior master Martin Letts. Lavender added the entered bitch title to her tally despite her years and then Duke of Buccleuch’s Sapling bagged the unentered bitch prize, shown by their joint-master and huntsman Tim Allen, who has been such a success following his move to Scotland. Lavender was awarded the accolade of champion hill hound, with Border Grafter in reserve.
STUDBOOK FOXHOUNDS
RICHARD SUMNER and Julian Barnfield renewed their old partnership from the Heythrop to judge the studbook foxhounds. Peter McColgan had sent his whipper-in, Jamie Walsh, to show the Albrighton and Woodland hounds and a great job he made of it, taking the stallion hound class with their Bogart 13 and being in the money all day.
Claire Bellamy, just starting her second season as master and huntsman of the Lauderdale, had a worthy winner of the entered doghounds with their Millbay 16, and then Percy Linseed won the entered dog class. Mikey Francis, popular kennel-huntsman at the Bedale, had the best veteran with Darwin and, from then on, the Percy’s old English hounds were unbeatable. Huntsman Robert McCarthy, whose enthusiasm is boundless, always produces his hounds in tip-top fettle and it was impossible for the judges to look past them as they raced around the ring with similar energy to their huntsman. Even in the studbook championship, they were unbeatable and their brood bitch Posie 12, by their Spitfire 08 — who was used at Heythrop by the judges — was the worthy champion with their Liffin 16 in reserve.
FELLHOUNDS
THE fellhounds are what these Cumbrian shows are really
all about and John Pugsley, chairman of the Dulverton West Foxhounds, was the judge with the onerous task of sorting them. The Blencathra’s Saddler was adjudicated best stallion hound and the Eskdale and Ennerdale Roamer 16 won the entered doghound class.
Home-bred Coniston Dealer won the unentered doghounds, walked by Helen Nicholson, and the Ullswater Sapphire 10 took the veteran prize: what a tremendous accolade for a bitch about to start her eighth season hunting and still looking so fit and spry.
The Coniston took the best brood bitch with Dido 12, and then good old Sapphire was back again, making light of her years to win the entered bitch for the Ullswater. Their Drama, by the Eskdale and Ennerdale sire Driver 10, took the unentered class and the winning entered doghound, Eskdale and
Ennerdale Roamer, was crowned champion fellhound, with Ullswater Sapphire in reserve.
The six judges outnumbered the four hounds in the main ring to judge and negotiate the final class for the best foxhound in show. Usually, this is a practice where judges champion their own winner, but in this case, it seemed that Conwy Valley Gaynor was a unanimous choice from the start and she was certainly a mostdeserved and popular winner.
BEAGLES
THE Sunday and second day of this show is for harehounds, where the harrier and beagle rings run concurrently. There were 12 packs of beagles showing and the hounds were of a high standard. Iain Storer, the experienced master of the Shropshire Beagles, was judging with young Guy Thomas, master of the Royal
Agricultural College Beagles and son of Bolebroke Beagles master Mark Thomas.
The Palmer Marlborough started the day off well with winners in the unentered dogs with Dalesman and a particularly strong entered class with
Winston 16. The Eton College had some lovely hounds, many with their distinctive “Eton fleck” colouration and expertly shown by kennel-huntsman Wayne O’Brien. They were ever the bridesmaid and seemed to be a close second in almost every class.
The lemon-coloured Ampleforth Admiral 14, a previous Harrogate champion and a quality dog with plenty of substance, was the stallion hound winner, and the Newcastle and District won their first class with the dark orangecoloured Wizard in the veterans.
It was no surprise that Ampleforth Fountain, by their stallion hound Admiral, topped the unentered class and then James Pound, the excellent huntsman of the Newcastle and District, brought their Avid 13 into the entered bitch class and she moved so exceptionally, that there could be no other winner.
The Eton College duly notched up the brood bitch with Vintage 12, and there was a run-off for the championship between the entered bitch Avid and the entered dog Winston, in which Avid prevailed.
HARRIERS
DESPITE only three packs attending, the judges Commander Charles Bagot-Jewitt from the Cheshire Beagles and Simon Dunn from the North Norfolk Harriers had plenty of quality in front of them. The Holcombe swept the board in the doghounds with a feast of delightful tan hounds, all with a slight Scarteen influence and all moving around the ring like quicksilver, beautifully produced by their ebullient huntsman Steven Ashworth.
Daystar 15, a previous Peterborough champion and the entered doghound winner at this show, was a standout performer, his feet hardly touching the grass as he moved, and he was rightly crowned doghound champion.
The Pendle Forest and Craven and the Vale of Lune had been knocking on the door, and Vale of Lune huntsman Stephen Shepley produced some outstanding hounds in the bitch classes, winning the unentered and entered classes with Flower and Fillet 14. Fillet then beat the Holcombe’s brood bitch Diva 10 in the bitch championship, but could not quite match Daystar in the run-off for best harrier.
The combined four judges had to split Daystar from Avid to adjudicate on the best harehound and, despite it being a tough ask with two such quality examples of their type, Avid was the worthy victor.