RoseTree-Blue Mountain prevails with all five entries finishing among the top-ten overall scoring hounds, including Bridle 2015, the winner.
Through an early morning mist, foxhounds are in full cry after the coyote. This excellent video was filmed on the second day of the Millboo Hunt Foxhound Performance Trials. / Video by Marion Latta de Vogel
The first of ten foxhound performance trials scheduled across North America this season is history. Millbrook Hunt (NY) hosted the 2021/2022 opener on September 8 and 9, 2021. Participants enjoyed superb weather, gorgeous country, exciting sport, and Millbrook’s unparalleled hospitality.
The first nine trials are qualifiers for the tenth and final Grand Championship Trials. That final showdown is scheduled for March 26 and 27, 2022, in Hoffman, North Carolina, where a national champion and the top ten foxhounds countrywide will be recognized.
(L-R) Trial Huntsman Tony Leahy, MFH, Fox River Valley Hunt (IL) and Massbach Hounds (IL); Cody Hayes, huntsman, Golden’s Bridge Hounds (NY); Sean Cully, MFH and huntsman, Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt PA); Marion Thorne, MFH and huntsman, Genesee Valley Hunt (NY); Bart Poole, huntsman, Essex Fox Hounds (NJ); Erin McKenney, huntsman, Millbrook Hunt (NY); Sam Clifton, huntsman, Rolling Rock Hunt (PA). / Fred Berry photo
At Millbrook, seven hunts entered five hounds each: Essex Fox Hounds (NJ), Genesee Valley Hunt (NY), Golden’s Bridge Hounds (NY), Millbrook Hunt (NY), Old Chatham Hunt (NY), Rolling Rock Hunt (PA), and Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt (PA).
After two days of hunting, the Overall High-Scoring Foxhound was Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Bridle 2015. Bridle scored convincingly among the top ten of all thirty-five hounds competing on each of the two days.
Bridle is a seven-year-old Crossbred female going back on her topline through Fox River Valley to Mooreland and even earlier to an unregistered American dog hound acquired by Midland. On her bottom line, she goes back through several generations of Deep Run breeding to Middleburg Crossbred dams.
Rose Tree-Blue Mountain was also the winning hunt at Millbrook, with all five hounds entered finishing among the overall top ten scores. Cully’s hounds accounted for first place, third, fifth, seventh, and eighth. All hounds finishing in the top ten in each of the nine trials automatically qualify for the final Grand Championship competition. Cully held a full house.
The top four scoring hunts were, from first to fourth, Rose Tree-Blue Mountain, Rolling Rock, Genesee Valley, and Millbrook. Rolling Rock Gunshot was second overall, and that hunt had two hounds that finished in the top ten. Genesee Valley also had two hounds among that elite company and Golden’s Bridge had one.
It has always impressed me how consistently the scoring system comes up with the best performing hounds based on the inputs of the appointed judges who record the facts of their observations on tape during the progress of the hunt. The process is not subjective. Having served as a judge for a number of the earlier trials, I always marveled how consistently the same leading hounds would appear on so many of the judges’ lists as the scores were entered. Each top-performing hound was receiving scores from many judges.
The overall high-scoring hound, Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Bridle, and second high scorer, Rolling Rock Gunshot, appear among the top four hounds each of the two days. Third-placed RT-BM Pickle ranked third both days. Sixth-placed Rolling Rock Stinger and ninth-placed Golen’s Bridge Jerry were also ranked among the top ten on both days.
“‘Pretty is as pretty does’ really applies to foxhounds,” wrote Trial President Fred Berry, MFHA District Director for the Carolinas, in his letter to hunts introducing the 2021/2022 schedule of Performance Trials. The Foxhound Performance Trial is surely the most revealing competition your editor has seen for Masters, huntsmen, and breeders to (1) compare their pack’s hunting abilities to those of their peers and (2) find proven hunting bloodlines for their breeding program.
Milbrook huntsman Erin McKenney, whose home country provide such good sport, observed, “It was really fun to watch hounds hunt in different styles and click like they did. All the packs had hounds with different strengths. They really ran well together. Click for complete scores for all entries on each day.
Finally, don’t miss Marion Latta de Vogel’s excellent short video of the Millbrook Foxhound Performance Trials, day two.
Posted September 14, 2021