Toronto and North York’s Blue Ridge Wentworth 2015 (Mendip Farmers Wentworth 2011 ex Mendip Farmers Stylish 2011) is Grand Champion of Show — again — at Canadian Hound Show. / Denya Massey Clarke photo
The sixty-fifth annual Canadian Foxhound Show was hosted by the London Hunt (ON) on Saturday, June 8, 2019.
Giving the younger foxhounds a fighting chance for glory, Toronto and North York Hunt (ON) entered their Blue Ridge Wentworth 2015, a veteran of four seasons of hunting, only in the class for Stallion Hounds. That was enough for Wentworth, though. After winning that class, he vanquished all he met on his way to being judged Grand Champion of Show at Canada for the second time since 2017. This was his third Grand Championship since Bryn Mawr in 2016. Wentworth has an interesting history both in the field and on the flags.
Judging foxhounds were Alistair and Tessa Jackson from the UK. Alistair is ex-MFH and huntsman of the West Percy, South Dorset, Grafton, and Cattistock Foxhounds and past president of the British Masters of Foxhounds Association. Alistair is also the co-author, with Michael Clayton, of A Short History of Foxhunting, published in 2013. Tessa is ex-MFH of the Cattistock Foxhounds.
It must be hard to pass over Wentworth. A correct modern English dog hound that shows himself very well and chases the biscuit with enthusiasm and grace, he has been previously judged Grand Champion of shows by other renowned judges and breeders—C. Martin Wood III, MFH, Live Oak Hounds (FL) and Ian Farquhar, former huntsman, Duke of Beaufort’s Foxhounds (UK). All these judges have judged every major foxhound show in the foxhunting world, including Peterborough.
Wentworth was bred at the Mendip Farmers Foxhounds (UK) where Linda Armbrust, ex-MFH, Blue Ridge Hunt (VA) served as Master during her earlier ten-year sojourn in England before returning to the U.S. He was entered in 2015 by the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA) and shown in 2016 by Blue Ridge huntsman Graham Buston. Though successful in the show ring, Buston was looking for more drive in the hunting field and thought the hound might do better in Ontario. Wentworth was drafted to Toronto and North York and huntsman Rosslyn Balding took possession in time for their spring season early that year.
“The hunting is different in the Toronto and North York country than it is in Virginia,” said Balding. “It’s mostly all coyote, and we have very few of the tight, discrete coverts as in Virginia. When we restart the season in the spring there’s no foliage, so the visibility is good.”
Wentworth started coming into his own later in that first season in Toronto, where they take a break during the winter. “[The] spring hunting was terrific,” Balding said. “We were finding coyotes on the first draw every time out. Hounds had no opportunity to do anything but hunt. Right from the start! At the beginning I could see that Wentworth was getting thrown out about halfway through, but with conditions as they were, by the end of the season, Wentworth was there at the finish with the rest of them. Now, I fully expect him to be there. I think he was just a slow starter.”
Balding had a couple of bi*ches in mind for him to breed, one with similar bloodlines, and she hopes to double up on those good lines. Balding will select hard-driving bi*ches for the hunting side of the equation and use Wentworth to improve the conformation of the litters.
Wentworth is a grandson in tail male to Duke of Beaufort’s Bailey 2003, arguably the most influential hound in England in the last [fifteen to twenty] years, according to C. Martin Scott, MFH, Vale of the White Horse (UK), perhaps England’s leading judge and hound breeder today. Bailey was a champion at Peterborough as was his dam, Duke of Beaufort’s Patience 1998. Bailey is also the grandsire of recent Canadian Hound Show Grand Champions, Toronto and North York Cleopatra 2012 and Clarence 2012 through their sire, Blue Ridge Barnfield 2010.
“I love him!” Balding said after his first season in Toronto. Buston liked him, too, while Wentworth was at Blue Ridge. “He’s a happy hound, loves life, and at the same time he’s contained and sober,” said Buston. “Nothing phases him.”
London Hunt Friendship 2017, a modern English bi*ch, was judged Reserve Grand Champion. Out of a tail female London line, Friendship’s sire is Toronto and North York’s Farquhar 2014, Grand Champion of Show at Canada in 2016. Farquhar goes back to a highly prepotent line from huntsman John Harrison’s days at Toronto and North York—a line that has produced numerous champions and grand champions. Harrison is now the professional huntsman at Deep Run Hunt (VA).
Eight hunts exhibited hounds: Eglinton and Caledon Hunt (ON), London Hunt (ON), Hamilton Hunt (ON), Montreal Hunt (QC), Lake of Two Mountains Hunt (ON), Palm Beach Hounds (FL), Toronto and North York Hunt(ON), and Wellington-Waterloo Hunt (ON).
Click for complete results of all classes.
Posted June 17, 2o19