Laughter makes the judges smile
A roasting day in the sun ended with a championship of pure quality, reports Frank Houghton Brown. The Waveney’s
Laughter 15 — a tri-colour bitch with black eyes and the most fluid movement, winner of the entered bitch class and then the victor over the white Holcombe Arley 15 in a close-run bitch championship — stood against the tan-coloured Holcombe Daystar 14.
Fresh from his championship success at the Great Yorkshire, this long-striding dog had swept all before him in the morning and had looked unbeatable, but Laughter was so perfect in every way that she was a worthy show champion. Her personality and star quality were in no way dimmed by the heat.
White coats and bowlers were the order of the day for most of the hunt staff, and the ring stewards were throwing buckets of cold water on the flagstones to cool them. The West Country harriers were absent this year as their attendance is biennial, so the judges had the whole day to wither in the sun while they sorted some challenging classes.
David Palmer, joint-master of the Worcestershire foxhounds. was accompanied by Ross Wilmington from the Axe Vale, and they separated the classes with clinical efficiency.
The Holcombe were much to the fore in the morning and seem to have patented their own brand of tan-coloured hounds that have real quality. Their Hallmark won the unentered class and was just one of many hounds at the show by the influential High Peak Batman 10.
Nigel Cox, determined not to drop his standards, chose to swelter in his full hunting dress and produced the High Peak Damien 11 in the entered dog. He was unlucky to come up against the scopey Holcombe Daystar and could only take second.
The Ross and the Dunston were always knocking on the door, but couldn’t beat Holcombe Domino 07 in the veteran class, who belies his age as he goes into his 10th season.
The gods were really favouring the Holcombe because, as Daystar was taking the championship from High Peak Damien, news came through that they had just won the senior inter-hunt relay.
The momentum swung in the afternoon sun to the local Waveney hounds as they won the unentered bitch class with their tan and white Sparkle, by the prolific Dunston Pistol 11.
The entered class went the same way, but in the class for bitches less than 19in, the Holcombe produced a really exceptional little white bitch, Arley 15, by their veteran winning Domino 07. She was an eye-catchingly perfect little hound, so different from their usual tan-coloured models.
Last year’s champion, High Peak Argue 11, took the brood bitch class, before the group class filled the ring with a bubbling mass of quality: the Pendle Forest and Craven had some lovely hounds and the High Peak likewise.
The Holcombe had eight tan hounds who were identical from the ringside, but the Waveney were worthy winners. Their Laughter 15 and the Holcombe’s perfect little Arley 15 were left to fight out the championship and the graceful, free-moving Laughter proved to be a most popular winner. H&H