Toronto and North York huntsman John Harrison gets his hounds moving for the judges. / Mary Raphael photo

Toronto and North York Clarence 2012 was judged Grand Champion of the Canadian Foxhound Show at the Ottawa Valley Hunt Farm on June 14, 2014. Judges were Messrs. C. Martin Scott, ex-MFH, Vale of the White Horse (UK) and Mason Lampton, MFH, Midland Foxhounds (GA).

It wasn’t too long ago that the Canadian hunts showed mainly English foxhounds, but the Canadian show now offers classes for both English and Crossbred Champions. With this in mind, it’s interesting to note that this year’s Grand Champion, while considered English based on the high percentage of English bloodlines in his pedigree, goes back in tail female to Midland Crossbred lines and on his sire’s side to a strong Blue Ridge female line of Crossbreds.

Clarence’s dam, Toronto and North York Clinic 2006, was a Crossbred hound out of a Midland female.* His sire, Blue Ridge Barnfield 2010, goes back in tail male to strong English lines of which Judge Martin Scott makes note: