Grand Champion Wentworth Audrey 2013, shown by huntsman Kami Wolk, MFH / Eric Schneider photo Wentworth Audrey 2013 was judged Grand Champion of Show at the New England Hound Show on Sunday, May 4, 2014. The show was held at Echo Ridge Farm in Lee, New Hampshire and was hosted for the first time by the Wentworth Hunt. Audrey is by a Penn-Marydel sire, Red Mountain Van Gogh 2008, out of an American dam, Keswick Nipper 2010.
Audrey’s sire, Van Gogh, has his own history. After a couple of stops in the Carolinas, his intelligence earned him a new home in New England where he could hobnob with all the Ivy Leaguers. More on that later.
Huntsman Charles Montgomery from the Bull Run Hunt (VA) judged the foxhounds. Montgomery knows a good hound when he sees one. As huntsman for the Live Oak Hounds (FL) for many years, he consistently fielded a pack of hounds of which an astounding percentage were hound show Champions and Grand Champions.
Wentworth is a drag pack in southern New Hampshire that changed over from Crossbred hounds to American and Penn-Marydel when the current huntsman Kami Wolk, MFH, took up the horn. Kami explained that Audrey was one of two litter sisters that huntsman David Raley drafted to her from the Moore County Hounds (NC). David, in turn, had received the pair from Katherine Gunter, huntsman at the Aiken Hounds (SC) who bred the litter.
“Audrey was small and lean when she arrived,” recalled Kami, “but she developed and entered on the drag very well. Like her sister, she’s a very kind and lovely hound to work with. She’s biddable and has a great voice.”
Kami has since acquired Audrey’s sire, Red Mountain Van Gogh, from Aiken, and has used him in her breeding program.
“Van Gogh is a very intelligent hound, and that’s why Katherine sent him to me,” said Kami. “He learned all the drags in the Hitchcock Woods, and since we have about fourteen fixtures here in the Wentworth country, I can keep him guessing!”
American, Crossbred, and Penn-Marydel hounds were shown by seven participating New England hunts: Green Mountain Hounds (VT), Guilford Hounds (NH), Myopia Hunt (MA), Norfolk Hunt (MA), North Country Hounds (VT), Old North Bridge Hounds (MA), and Wentworth Hunt (NH). Click for complete results.
Posted May 16, 2014