Norfolk Mickey at the kennels in Massachusetts / Jennifer Rogers Farrin photo
At the New England Hound Show, held on May 22, 2022, foxhounds from the Norfolk Hunt (MA) walked off with the English, American, and Crossbred Championship trophies. In the Grand Championship Class which followed, with three Norfolk hounds of the four qualifiers competing, the odds prevailed, and Norfolk Mickey, an un-entered dog hound, was judged Best in Show.
Norfolk Mickey, by Princess Anne Wallace 2019 ex Princess Anne Midnight 2018, is one of a litter of fifteen pups whelped by Norfolk huntsman Steve Farrin on June 17, 2021.
“They all survived,” Farrin exclaimed, “but we had a secret ingredient―goat’s milk! My wife milked the goats and nursed the pups to supplement the dam’s milk.”
Farrin kept about half the litter and drafted the remaining half.
“The whole litter was level, active, and healthy,” said Farrin. “They were easy to handle on hound exercise, both on and off couples. Not one was shy. They were a joy to work with.”
Farrin has been surprised and pleased with how well hounds drafted from live hunts have taken to drag hunting.
“They seem to think about the line a bit more,” he said.
Norfolk Mickey, progeny of Hillsboro Sable 2013 on both sides of his pedigree / Jennifer Rogers Farrin photo
A Brilliant Breeding
Mickey is blessed with a Hillsboro bloodline on both sides of his pedigree―top and bottom―that is producing the very best hound both in the field and on the flags in recent years. Mickey’s tail-female grandmother and his paternal great-grandmothers are one and the same: Hillsboro Sable 2013. For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, Hillsboro Hounds have established a corner on the silver market recently.
According to Orrin Ingram, MFH, Hillsboro Hounds (TN), most of the hounds shown by Hillsboro this season share the blood of Hillsboro Sable 2013. Hillsboro Wagtail, this year’s Grand Champion at the Southern Hound Show and Reserve Grand Champion at Virginia is a granddaughter of Sable. Hillsboro Walnut, last year’s Grand Champion at Virginia, is Sable’s daughter.
Sable 2013 is by Live Oak Farrier 2010, a Grand Champion at Virginia. Farrier’s littermate, Fable, was also a Grand Champion at Virginia. Sable’s dam was by Duke of Beaufort’s Bailey 2003. For nearly twenty years, Bailey has been considered one of England’s most influential stallion hounds.
Martin Scott, ex-MFH, Vale of the White Horse (UK), one of England’s leading breeders and judges of foxhounds, notes that Bailey’s male line goes back to Heythrop Busby 1996, another highly influential sire in his time, as well as to College Valley/North Northumberland Grafter 1989 from one of the most influential hill hound kennels in England. Busby is regarded as an outcross and valued highly for his work in the field.
With this litter of pups by Princess Anne Wallace out of Princess Anne Midnight, the Norfolk Hunt and those that received drafts from the litter with a double dose of Hillsboro Sable may well have a world-class pre-potent female breeding line to be protected, nurtured, and maintained.
Posted June 25, 2022