THE weather was kind yet again for The National Hound Show at the Cosby Estate at Stradbally Hall, organised by David Lalor master of the Laois Foxhounds.

It was a very busy day in the Foxhound ring with 19 packs entered. The judges were Tim Eastby, former director of the MFHA and Charlie Dando, master of the Monmouthshire judging the Doghounds, and Mrs Nessie Chanter, master of the Heythrop and Richard Gurney, master of the Crawley & Horsham judging the Bitches.

Limerick and Kildare had an exceptional show heading the winners’ list in both the Doghound and Bitch classes. Iveagh, Tipperary, Ballymacad, Louth, Waterford and Westmeath were also prominent in the Doghound classes, with Westmeath winning the Unentered Doghound Restricted with Broadway and County Louth winning the Unentered Doghound Old English with Charcoal, while Tipperary won the Best Two Couple Open with Machine, Monarch, Mustard and Packet and the Stallion Hound Open with Actor. Waterford won the Best Old English Entered Doghounds with Cinder and Radar.

Kildare took the Unentered Doghound Couple with Toaster and Token, with Token going on to win the Dick Russell Memorial Challenge Cup and Ballymacad Boycott earning the Reserve Championship. Kildare were not finished, as they won the Reserve Doghound Championship with Kildare Hallmark.

County Limerick won the Stallion Hound Old English and The Ger Withers Perpetual Cup with Rambo, which was special for Limerick huntsman Fergus Stokes as Ger hunted the neighbouring pack, the Duhallows, and was a great friend.

The Iveagh won the Entered Couple of Doghounds with Golfer and Gosford, with Golfer going on to win the Doghound Championship and the newly-sculpted Nick McDermott Memorial Bronze.

Bitches

Iveagh Ragtime won the Unentered Bitch with the County Limerick taking the Unentered Old English with Rachel, who also won The Irish Field Perpetual Trophy. The Limericks also won the Brood Bitch with Truthful, who also won the Robin Hunt Perpetual Challenge Cup and the Pollock Cup and they also collected the Best Two Couple of Bitches with Sandel, Trickle, Truffle and Truthful. Kildare won the Unentered Bitch Couples with Goodness and Magic, who also won the Unentered Bitch Championship. Westmeath won the Entered Couple of Bitches Restricted with Wisdom and Wishful.

The Bitch Open Championship went to County Limerick Harmony with the Reserve Championship going to huntsman Ryan Carvill’s South Tyrone Pencil, which marked an outstanding showing day for Limerick huntsman Fergus Stokes and his Old English hounds.

Beagle judges, Noel Mullins and Colin Babe, with multiple winning huntsman Marie O'Connor of the Woodrock and Blackwater Valley Beagles in Cork at the National Hound Show \ Noel Mullins

Harrier Ring

Gary McCarthy, Mark Mulrine and their team were well-organised in the Harrier Ring, with judges Niall Dunne former huntsman of the Westmeath Foxhounds and current huntsman of the Ward Union Staghounds; Mark McIlroy former huntsman of the Newry Harriers and Joanna Hyland former master of the Galway Blazers, whose mother Oonagh Mary was master of the family pack the Bermingham and North Galway Foxhounds and whose grandmother Lady Molly Cusack Smith was master and huntsman of the Galway Blazers and master of the Westmeath Foxhounds.

In the morning, the foxhounds were shown and Robbie and Emma Hodge of the East Antrim accounted for three classes, the Unentered Doghound with Rapture, Entered Bitch with Panda and the Best Couple with Granter and Grocer. Patrick Murphy of the Fermanagh won two classes, Entered Doghound with Wilson and the Unentered Bitch with Border while Sabine Dowdall, kennel huntsman of the Tara Harriers, not alone won the Brood Bitch class with Tara Model but also took the Championship with Model.

In the afternoon, it was a rare opportunity for many of the spectators to see Traditional Irish Harriers with healthy competition from the famous Scarteen Kerry Beagles that are one of only nine of the native breeds of dogs/hounds in Ireland.

The main opposition was the Cork National with hounds that have probably descended from hounds that are recorded in The National Library as having hunted as far back as 1500BC in iconic locations such as The Hill of Tara and many other Irish landmarks.

They are not to be confused with Stud Book Harriers more prevalent in the UK that started to go into decline during World War II as the British Government only granted foxhound packs with feed subsidies in order to control the fox population during the conflict.

Tom Shanahan of the Premier hunts a pack with both Kerry Beagles and traditional Harriers and he had the winning Brood Bitch with Calm.

The Cork National, who also are great supporters of the show, were rewarded winning the Unentered Bitch class with Ripple and the Best Couple with Rowdy and Rocker.

It was a rewarding trip from County Limerick for the new Scarteen huntsman Jamie Cross and his hounds were certainly on form as they won the Unentered Doghound Class with Tony, the Entered Doghound with Gatsby, the Entered Bitch with Galaxy and the Championship again with Galaxy.

The Harriers and the Beagle Associations are really the pioneers of the Young Handlers class. Many consider it the most important class for the future of hunting in Ireland. There was a remarkable 21 entries sponsored by Hunting Attire Ireland. Each handler, ranging in age from five years upwards, had to show a hound in front of the judges and the winner was five-year-old Charles Fox, who hunts with the Lakeland Foot Beagles with Ruby.

Grace Kerr, huntsman of Mr Kerrs Beagles, with her Reserve Champion Bitch Crumble assisted by Desmond Bell at The National Hound Show at Stradbally \ Noel Mullins

Beagle Ring

There was a great atmosphere around the beagle ring with show secretary Liz Brown and ring steward Lucinda McDonald making a well-coordinated team with the schedule running like clockwork. Paul Kerr (master of Mr Kerrs Beagles) and President of the IMBA and HAI Chairperson Aileen Byrne Williams (master of the Goldburn Beagles) were on hand but busy preparing for showing their hounds.

Judging were Colin Babe, master and huntsman of the County Louth Beagles and Noel Mullins, former huntsman of the Russellstown Beagles and the Goldburn Beagles.

Interestingly, all but one pack were shown by ladies, either masters or huntsmen with keen competition for the spoils. And all packs were in the ribbons, including Aileen Byrne Williams’ Goldburn Beagles and Jill Brown Ellis’ Sunnyland Rash Beagles.

Doghounds

After measuring hounds, the competition began with Richard Bonham master and huntsman of the Lakeland Foot Beagles winning the Unentered Doghound class with Potter and Grace Kerr huntsman of Mr Kerrs taking the Best Entered Doghound with Percy.

WBV (Woodrock & Blackwater Valley) Captain won the Stallion Hound, followed by winning the Best Couple with Samson and Poacher and winning the Championship with Captain, with the Reserve going to Mr Kerrs with Percy.

Bitches

In the afternoon it was the judging of the Bitch classes with Lakeland Foot kicking off the proceedings winning the Best Unentered Bitch class with Posy and Mr Kerrs winning the Best Entered Doghound class with Crumble and the Best Couple with Crumble and Focus and the Best Sire or Dam with Two Progeny with Felix, Captain and Candle.

The WBV won the Best Entered Bitch and the Best Entered Bitch Shown in any Class with Active, followed by winning the Champion Bitch with Active with Reserve going to Mr Kerrs Crumble.

WBV took the Supreme Champion of the Show with Captain and the Reserve with Active. The Victor Ludorum for the pack scoring the most points went to the Lakeland Foot Beagles.

Young Handlers

The Best Young Handler of the show was a split decision for the first time between five-year-old Charles Fox and Lakeland Foot Rally and seven-year-old Robert Storey, the son of Siobhan English (contributor to The Irish Field), showing Mr Kerrs Felix.

It was picnic time as many of the hunts had their own dining furniture providing a suitable occasion for packs to catch up on happenings in the hunting world and looking forward to the coming season.

But Des Bell, a stalwart of both Mr Kerrs Beagles and the South County Dublin Harrrers, cut a dash as he donned his apron and carved a large ham hock.