Professor Maxwell lands cleanly at fence 3 of the Maryland Hunt Cup. / Douglas Lees photo

The hunt point-to-points are over, and Foxhunting Life ends its season’s coverage with a report on the Maryland Hunt Cup. We report on these races because they are foxhunting-related; amateur riders compete, and many of these racehorses also serve as field hunters. And what field hunters they are! Click to read Anne Hambleton's article, "Thoroughbreds: Kings of the Hunting Field."

With the racing and Thoroughbred journals now covering the sanctioned races, FHL switches its focus from horses to hounds. We start our hound show reports with the Southern Hound Show, first of the season. We’ll report on the Southwestern Hound Show next week. Follow our coverage; learn more about hounds. We generally focus on the grand champion of show, and we always find a good story to tell!

Posted May 4, 2013

Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) boasts a sporting field of superb horsemen and women that love to gallop and take their own lines over the post-and-rail line fences in their country. Seven years ago, the Cheshire Masters and staff embarked on a bold experiment to breed a new foxhound for that country. Our feature article below tells of their decision to cross the The Old English (also called the Traditionally-Bred English) foxhound and the Penn-Marydel foxhound.

Their plan was a gamble because the two breeds are about as dissimilar in type as foxhounds get, and the crossing of the two types would produce litters that varied greatly from pup to pup. However, the Cheshire Masters and huntsman believed that the strong points of each type would tend to compensate for the perceived weaknesses in the other and result in a foxhound superior to either type.

Here are some examples of the perceived differences between the types. Just remember that generalizations are only generally valid!

A young James Barclay while Master of the Fitzwilliam Foxhounds (UK)Allow me to introduce James Barclay, a retired Master of Foxhounds in England and descendant of a distinguished foxhunting family. I am pleased and honored to announce that Foxhunting Life will be publishing James’s informative and thoughtful essays in future issues.

James’s family roots are with the Puckeridge Foxhounds, a hunt in Hertfordshire dating back to 1725. His sister has served as Master since 1987. Two brothers, his mother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather also served as Masters of the Puckeridge, that dynasty starting in 1896.

James’s first day of hunting was with the Puckeridge back in the 1960s. He was astride a donkey, and, by tradition, he wore a small version of the family scarlet coat which each family member going back at least three generations had worn on their first hunt!

Odds are high that most Foxhunting Life readers will tune in to the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May to watch "the most exciting two minutes in sports." It's arguably the finest show of racing talent each year from the horses to the trainers to the jockeys who are all aiming for the glory of winning the Kentucky Derby cup and sharing in the two million dollar purse.

Websites like www.kentuckyderbybetting.com are excellent resources to get you up to date on the background and history of the 'Run for the Roses.' There is also a section on Kentucky Derby horse odds which is invaluable if you are planning on increasing the excitement by having a flutter on your favorite contender this year.

It's easy to get emotionally attached to a horse that you believe can win the big prize. Some foxhunters take the connection even further by buying retired racehorses and giving them a whole new lease on life. Here's a recent FHL article on Thoroughbreds in the hunting field.