“Not quantity, but quality.”

This was judge Clive Rose’s concise summary of the day’s proceedings in the English ring at the Virginia Hound Show in Leesburg, Va. His opinion was affirmed at the end of the day when the English champion, Toronto and North York’s Cotswold Sandford ’03, was named grand champion on May 29.

Sandford (Cotswold Saracen ’00 — Cotswold Candid ’00) was named best stallion hound, just edging kennelmate Crackshot ’00, who had won the class the previous three years. It was just the start of a winning streak for Sandford, a striking lemon-and-white hound, who went on to capture the champion dog and English championship before sweeping the grand championship.

After choosing between Sandford and Blue Ridge Cotton for the English title, Rose remarked that he put the dog hound on top as he considered him a slightly better overall representative of what an English foxhound should be. Mark Powell, the Toronto and North York huntsman, described Sandford as “a good-hunting hound with a good voice.”

Toronto and North York’s ribbons continued to gather as a litter by their Godfrey ’01, out of their Havoc ’98, accounted for two blues in the unentered classes, with Harvester winning the unentered dogs and Hailstone winning the unentered bitches class. Harvester was named best unentered hound as well as reserve champion dog hound, and Rose predicted future show ring success for this very nice young hound. Their Credence ’00 was also named best brood bitch. Virginia’s Blue Ridge Hunt garnered most of the trophies and ribbons in the English ring that Toronto and North York didn’t. In classes for unentered hounds, Blue Ridge had success with littermates by Mid Devon Grocer ’00, out of Blue Ridge Pickle ’99. Pickle had enjoyed success at the 2002 Virginia show, where she was named champion bitch and champion English foxhound. Blue Ridge’s Pilot was second in the unentered dog class, and, when paired with his brother Picton, earned top honors in the couple of unentered dogs class. Picket and Piecrust won the couple of unentered bitches class.

Blue Ridge also prevailed in the couple of entered dogs class, with first-season hounds Coaster and Commodore ’04, and in the two couple of dogs class. Blue Ridge Cotton ’04, littermate to the winning couple of dogs, took the blue ribbon in the entered bitch class and was named champion bitch and reserve champion English hound. Huntsman Dennis Downing remarked that this lovely bitch is as good in her hunting as she is on the boards.

The class for best stallion hound shown with three of his get was cancelled this year, as was the pack class.

Jockey Rides To Victory In The Penn-Marydels
Leeland Witscher

The Marlborough Hunt (Md.) dominated the Penn-Marydel ring, claiming wins in both the registered hound championship and the pack class. Marlborough Jockey ’03 (Golden Bridge’s Keeper ’01–Marlborough Effie ’97) led the charge, winning the stallion hound class and the single registered dog, entered, classes on his way to the championship.

“He’s a high-quality hound, well-balanced and an excellent mover,” said MFH Martin C. Wood, who judged the Penn-Marydel ring along with his wife, Daphne. Jim Faber, the Marlborough huntsman, said that the 3-year-old hound is not only a striking-looking individual, but also a standout in the hunting field.

Faber returned to show the Marlborough hounds in the pack class, and Wood rewarded him with another win. “Marlborough had a lovely level pack of hounds. They were very responsive to the huntsman under loose control,” said the judge.

In the listed hound divisions, Reedy Creek (Va.) ruled the day, winning the single listed dog, unentered, and grand listed hound championship with Reedy Creek Fame ’04 (Reedy Creek Biddle ’01–Andrew’s Bridge Venus ’98). Fame’s littermate, Friendly, claimed the reserve listed hound cham-pionship as well. And Reedy Creek also won the single listed dog, unentered, with their Inkwell.

MFH James Culleton couldn’t have been happier with his first big win at Virginia. Culleton grew up on Long Island and was the master of the Abington Hills Hunt (Pa.) for 18 years before moving to Virginia six years ago. Culleton brought his American pack with him, but he wasn’t completely happy with the way they were hunting their new territory in McKenney, Va., just south of Richmond.

Five years ago, Culleton switched to hunting a Penn-Marydel pack, which he built with the help of Bob Crompton, the jt.-MFH and huntsman of Andrew’s Bridge Foxhounds (Pa.). “Now we have 48 hounds in the kennel, and they’re super out hunting and doing very well in the show ring,” said Culleton. “Fame is a very good-looking hound, very well put together and correct. He’s also quite biddable in the hunting field,” Culleton added.

Rose Tree Needy, last year’s grand cham-pion hound, wasn’t in attendance this year, having just whelped a litter of “seven beautiful puppies,” according to MFH Joseph Murtagh. The unentered hound Rose Tree’s Quack (Rose Tree Okie ’03–their Nana ’02) almost made up for her absence by claiming the single registered dog, unentered, class and then taking the reserve registered hound championship.

“He’s one of a litter of 10, and three of those are probably the best bitches I’ve ever had,” said Murtagh. But the bitches came into season before the Virginia Hound Show and didn’t make the trip from the Rose Tree kennels in Brogue, Pa. “The [judges] Woods like a bigger type of hound, and I hadn’t thought of that before the show, but they really like Quack because he’s a bigger hound,” Murtagh said. Although Quack and his littermates are technically still unentered, Murtagh hunted them a few times at the end of the season this spring. They “looked really promising,” he said.

Potomac Joseph Captures American Tricolor
C. Thompson Pardoe, ex-MFH

At the conclusion of a full day of classes in which Brazos Valley (Texas), Orange County (Va.) and Potomac (Md.) seemed to alternate winning individual classes, Potomac emerged the champion with their outstanding stallion hound Joseph ’02. Potomac also had their unentered hound Jefferson in the best dog hound class, but judge Roger Scullin, MFH from Howard County-Iron Bridge (Md.), said, “The young dog is magnificent, with incredible movement and substance, but the stallion hound wins with his equally outstanding movement but greater overall finish and maturity.”

Jefferson is a hound that huntsman Larry Pitts warns will be a power in the future. “He has it all. He has a wonderful attitude and moves like a champion. He comes from a great family of hounds that have shown great sport, and I’m sure he’ll continue to do the same,” said Pitts.

The match between the three hunts was evident early in the day as Potomac Jefferson took the unentered dog class and their Joseph took the stallion hound class, while Brazos Valley won both unentered and entered dog classes for packs under 20 couple and Orange County won the entered dog class with their Bronco ’04.

At the break for lunch, judge Max Naegler, MFH for Harvard Foxhounds (Okla.), said he “expected quality, and I saw it.” Scullin remarked that he was pleased to see “hounds with so much substance but showing remarkably good, light movement.” Both judges stressed that they’d given significant importance to the movement of the hounds in placing the classes. It might be noted that the trend to showing American hounds off the leash and moving to the biscuit continues to increase.

The afternoon classes for bitches threatened to follow a similar pattern to the morning classes for dogs until Casanova (Va.) and Old Dominion (Va.) each came through with wins. A lovely bitch from Casanova (Oakley ’02) took the entered class for the under 20 couple, while Old Dominion Jazzy ’01 took the blue in the over 20 couple entered bitch class. Jazzy clearly had caught the eye of the judges, as she came back with littermate Jackie to win the couple of entered bitches class.

But Brazos Valley wasn’t done. They took home their own cup for best unentered bitch (under 20 couple) with Peaches. MFH Sandy Dixon said that her winning bitch was “straight Brazos Valley.” She went on to explain that she’s maintained a breeding program for six generations of her own line and that only very recently has she used out-crosses to the Rombout (N.Y.) hounds to avoid inbreeding. Not to be denied, Orange County won the brood bitch class with their outstanding Melody ’99. The old girl held her own against the younger bitches and was named champion American bitch, with Casanova Oakley ’02 as reserve.

The selection of the champion American hound came down to two truly outstanding specimens of the breed: Potomac Joseph ’02 and Orange County Melody ’99, each in outstanding condition. This had to have been a particularly difficult decision for Scullin since at the Virginia show in 2002, he’d pinned Melody the grand champion. But this time he and Naegler gave the nod to Joseph.

Naegler called the champion “just the total package. He’s very well muscled yet extremely light on his feet.” Scullin agreed, saying of both hounds, “Who wouldn’t want a pack like that?”