Grand Champion of Show, Fort Leavenworth Drop Zone 2020 and (l-r) Annette Deguchi; judge Spencer Allen; Teresa Griffith; Amanda Siegner; Mark French, MFH; judge Andrew Bozdan; Dr. Steve Thomas, MFH and huntsman / Kathy Wismer photography
Dr. Steven Thomas, Master and huntsman of the Leavenworth Hunt (KS) was casting back a couple of years.
“Drop Zone was my favorite puppy,” he recalled. “He was home-raised. We always take in a few of the puppies to raise in the house,” he explained.
Drop Zone had recently been judged Grand Champion of Show at the 2022 Central States Hound Show hosted by Fort Leavenworth Hunt at Master Thomas’s Blue Valley Farm.
Hounds from six hunts were shown: Brazos Valley Hounds (TX), Bridlespur Hunt (MO), Fort Leavenworth Hunt (KS), Harvard Fox Hounds (OK), Mission Valley Hunt (KS), and North Hills Hunt (NE). Hounds were judged by huntsman Spencer Allen, Long Run Woodford Hounds (KY), and huntsman Andrew Bozdan, Camargo Hunt (OH).
Drop Zone may be an unusual name for a foxhound, especially considering the sport’s reverence for tradition and the fact that hound names commonly used today were compiled by foxhunters before man ever made a successful airborne flight. But for the venerable Fort Leavenworth Hunt, military-inspired names are not at all unusual. That hunt has, in the past, fielded foxhounds named Ambush, Bastogne, Barrage, Delta, Eagle, and Freedom.
At any rate, we can confidently assume that Fort Leavenworth Drop Zone 2020 is the first foxhound by that name ever to be judged a grand champion anywhere for anything. Breeding such a hound―correct in its conformation and all the sloping angles of the moving parts that allow him to cover ground effortlessly, with substance to match―isn’t as simple a matter as the choosing of a name, however. The breeder’s odds are always improved by a wise match of a complementary pair, backed by proven bloodlines known to pass on their good traits. In other words, pre-potency. That’s why it’s always fun to look at the pedigrees of successful hounds.
Drop Zone is by Hillsboro Warrior 2017 out of Fort Leavenworth Zaza 2018. Master and huntsman Steve Thomas sent Zaza off to the Hillsboro kennels in Tennessee to be bred by huntsmen Johnny and Leilani Gray. The Hillsboro Hounds have been a force for a number of years both at the hound shows and in the field. In fact, a Hillsboro hound, Wagtail 2020, was judged Grand Champion Foxhound at the Southern Hound Show just a few weeks ago, and Fort Leavenworth’s Steve Thomas was there as a judge. Wagtail and Drop Zone are first cousins since the former’s dam and the latter’s sire are littermates.
“I wanted a Hillsboro sire for Zaza, and I left the choice of dog hound up to Johnny and Leilani,” said Thomas. “I knew they would make the best choice.”
Drop Zone’s sire, Hillsboro Warrior 2017 was Grand Champion at the Southern Hound Show in 2018.
“As a puppy, Drop Zone had multiple medical problems and required a lot of attention, but he was always a perfect citizen,” said Thomas. “And he remained that way…so biddable, eager to please, stands quietly for his collar to be put on, but in the field it’s ‘Game On!’”
Drop Zone’s tail female line through his dam, Zaza, is a long-running Fort Leavenworth breeding line that the hunt has maintained over many generations. Zaza’s topline is star-studded. Her sire, Fort Leavenworth Richmond, was, in his day, judged Crossbred Champion Stallion Hound and Reserve Champion Crossbred Hound at Central States.
Richmond’s tail female line goes back to a pair of hounds bred by George Thomas, Master and huntsman of the Why Worry Hounds (SC). Thomas is a multiple-great-grandson of Burrell ‘Burr Frank’ Bywaters of Virginia, the leading market breeder of American foxhounds in the early part of the twentieth century. The old ‘Virginia Bywaters blood’ is still prized by top-flight Virginia packs such as Piedmont, Orange County, Warrenton, and Rappahannock.
Equally impressive, Richmond’s paternal grandfather is none other than Potomac Jefferson 2005, the hound that in the MFHA Centennial Year of 2005 was judged winner of a special class at the Virginia Hound Show. That class brought together the Grand Champions of that year’s hound shows from across the country to choose a single Centennial Grand Champion.
Jefferson was bred by then huntsman of the Potomac Hunt (MD), Larry Pitts. Pitts retired from Potomac after serving as huntsman for thirty-five seasons but has since opted out of retirement. He currently hunts hounds at the Bedford County Hunt (VA) near his retirement home. Did the judges get it right with their choice of Jefferson backin 2005? Your editor was at ringside for that class and has never yet seen a more strikingly handsome foxhound with the presence of royalty as Jefferson displayed in the ring. What’s even more impressive, I never heard a whisper at ringside or in all the years since that any other hound in the ring that day was more deserving to win.
In the years after his victory on the flags, Jefferson went on to further prove himself as a pre-potent stallion hound with the ability to pass on his excellent genes―those relating to both hunting and conformation―to his progeny. Jefferson’s offsprings have been grand champions of shows in North America virtually every year since he first stood at stud.
Reserve Grand Champion Brazos Valley Dugley / Kathy Wismer Photography
Reserve Champion of Show was Brazos Valley Dugley 2021. Master Sandy Dixon returned home to Texas with a slew of ribbons and trophies, Brazos Valley hounds having tallied the most points of all the competing hunts.
Dugley is an American dog hound of mostly Brazos Valley breeding except for one interesting outcross―to an American foxhound from Potomac Hunt (MD). Yup, you guessed it; Potomac Jefferson is Dugley’s maternal grandfather. Jefferson’s record of annual champion offspring is well-established for another year.
Posted June 1, 2022