Bryn Mawr 2016 Champion Foxhound of Show is Blue Ridge Wentworth 2015. Huntsman Graham Buston (right) shows Wentworth; Cheri Buston holds the lead. Judge Ian Farquahar, MFH, Duke of Beaufort’s (UK) explains to the spectators the points of conformation upon which he bases his decision. / Chris Cancelli photo
Displaying activity, purpose, and movement while chasing the biscuit, Blue Ridge Wentworth 2015 staked his claim to the Midland Foxhound Trophy for Champion Foxhound of Show at the Bryn Mawr Hound Show on Saturday, June 4, 2016. It was no walk-away for the first-year English hound from Blue Ridge. He faced stiff competition from the other division champions, one of which was the Crossbred, Midland Striker, who came to Bryn Mawr having already been judged Grand Champion in two of this season’s sanctioned hound shows. Striker was Reserve Champion this day.
The class was judged by Ian Farquhar, MFH and huntsman of the Duke of Beaufort’s Foxhounds (UK). Farquhar was careful to explain to the spectators, using the hounds as examples, how he evaluated conformation and came to his decision.
A closer look at Wentworth / Christine Cancelli photo
Wentworth is an imposing dog hound of Mendip Farmers breeding—a hunt where Blue Ridge ex-MFH Linda Armbrust served as Master during her ten-year sojourn in England before returning to the U.S. and her fifteen-year Mastership at Blue Ridge. Behind two generations of Mendip Farmers breeding, however, Wentworth goes back in tail male to Duke of Beaufort’s Bailey 2003, arguably the most influential hound in England in the last fifteen years, according to C. Martin Scott, MFH, Vale of the White Horse (UK).
Bailey was a champion at Peterborough as was his dam, Duke of Beaufort’s Patience 1998. Bailey is also the grandsire of the Canadian Hound Show Grand Champions of the last two years—Toronto and North York Cleopatra 2012 and Clarence 2012—through their sire, Blue Ridge Barnfield 2010.
Martin Scott, one of England’s most highly regarded hound breeders and judges, notes that the Wentworth/Bailey male line goes back to Heythrop Busby 1996, another influential sire in his time, and to College Valley/North Northumberland Grafter 1989 from one of the most influential hill hound kennels in England. Grafter was regarded as an outcross and valued highly in his work.
Armbrust brought Wentworth’s dam Stylish 2011 to the U.S. in whelp from the Mendip Farmers. Wentworth was whelped at Blue Ridge and entered in 2015 … slowly … according to huntsman Graham Buston.
“He progressed each time out,” explained Buston. “He came on, came on…improving each time out, and I was really pleased with him at the end of the season. He’s a happy hound, loves life, and at the same time he’s contained and sober. Nothing phases him.
“He’s sharp. He looks, watches, and learns. When I was throwing the biscuit in that last class, he was running before the biscuit ever left my hand.”
Judges of foxhounds this year were Lt. Col. Dennis Foster, ex-MFH in the American Ring; Coleman Perrin, ex-MFH, Deep Run Hunt (VA) in the Crossbred Ring; Dr. Jon R. Moody, MFH, Mooreland Hunt (AL) in the English Ring; Wayne Cavanaugh in the Penn-Marydel Ring; and Capt. Ian Farquhar, MFH judging the Foxhound Championship Class.
Mrs. R.D. Green, MFH, Warwickshire Foxhounds (UK) and Patrick Anthony Leahy, MFH, Fox River Valley Hunt (IL) judged the beagles, and Ian Storer (UK) judged the bassets.
The Bryn Mawr Hound Show was first held in 1914. The show, which includes foxhounds, beagles, and bassets, typically draws thirty-five to forty-five exhibiting packs with more than five hundred hounds showing in six rings. The show is held on the grounds of the Radnor Hunt Club in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
Posted June 10, 2016
Wentworth engraves the fox’s brush with his mark. / Chris Cancelli photo