High honours for the Heythrop

The Heythrop takes both championships, but local packs revel in some success, too

- ANDREW SALLIS and MATTHEW HIGGS

South of England, South of England Showground, W Sussex

FOXHOUNDS

UNDER a hawthorn bush in the Belvoir huntsman’s garden lie the remains of the celebrated Brocklesby Rallywood 1843. Considered one of the founders of the foxhound, his painting by Stubbs portrays a strong, yet lighter-boned hound than some of his cumbersome early 20th-century descendants.

Fast forward a century, and his 26-time great-grandson and namesake from the state-of-the-art Heythrop kennels would have made the old boy’s breeder, the 1st Earl of Yarborough, proud as he bounded effortlessly across the ring to win the doghound championship at Ardingly.

According to the modern-day Rallywood’s breeder, Charles Frampton, joint-master and huntsman of the Heythrop, “He’s a great dog with a super voice and has been used as a sire, particularly by northern packs with their broad landscapes and galloping country.”

The morning started with a confident win for the Albrighton and Woodland and their Boatman 23 in the maiden single entered doghound class. Boatman is a wholesome, athletic hound by Wheatland Archer 21, who goes back to the Grove and Rufford lines, bred so successfully by their huntsman, Paul Larby.

The Heythrop’s winning streak began with their couple of unentered doghounds. Mottled and more lithe than their rivals, Barber and Banker caught the eye in a close decision, with the Fitzwilliam’s mature Gordon and Goodman taking second place. One to watch, the Albrighton and Woodland’s Pagan, by home-bred stallion hound Porlock 15, confidently won the unentered championship.

Strider 21 and Statesman 21, litter-brothers by the influential VWH Jacob 18, who maintain the Heythrop’s famed ST line, just edged the Albrighton and Woodland’s Rallywood 23 and Rambo 23, who joined Boatman 23 and Bowler 23 to claim the most conclusive victory of the morning in the entered two-couple class.