Humble Acre Sandstorm, shown winning an American Pointer Club specialty in 1978, handled by Karen Prickett.
The American Pointer Club (APC) became a member of the AKC in 1938 and held its first show in conjunction with the famous Morris and Essex Show in May of the follow year. The winner of the show was a lemon and white dog named Int. Ch. Pennine Paramount of Prune’s Own, born in 1935, sired by Marlais Marksman, the most influential Pointer of the 1930s, who had as many fans as he had detractors. Some believe that he was too houndy with a down face, and he passed these qualities (and many good ones) to his progeny.
The 1950s saw the prominence of Mary Wadsworth Rich’s Vilmar kennels, as Ch. Vilmar’s Lucky, living up to his name, won the national specialty 5 times, not to mention 12 Best in Show awards. The first orange champion was also a Vilmar dog, Ch. Vilmar’s Skogis Herta. Two other greats from the 1950s, both Westminster Group winners, were Ch. C P and Ch. Captain Speck, Lucky’s sire. In 1954, five Pointers were inducted into the Field Trial Hall of Fame, which is a part of the National Bird Dog Museum located in Grand Junction, Tennessee. The five dogs were Fishel’s Frank, John Proctor, Luminary, Mary Montrose and Muscle Shoal’s Jake.
The decade of the 1960s brought forth Ch. Maryjay’s Majesty, owned by Enos Phillips. He was a liver and white who won 13 BIS, 2 Bests in Specialty Show (BISS) awards and 61 Group Ones, including the APC’s national in 1963 and 1964. Bob Parkers’s Truewithem bloodlines relied heavily on his prepotency. Another great Pointer of the period was Ch. Crookrise Danny of Muick, who won Group One at Westminster in 1964.
The Cumbrian kennels were founded in 1967 by Henri Tuthill, basing his line on his first champion, Ch. Shandown’s Prima Donna, and English imports such as Ch. Cumbrian President and Ch. Sunset of Cumbrian. Cumbrian’s dedication to the breed has paid off richly, in producing nearly 100 champions including the all-time top-winning Pointer Ch. Cumbrian Black Pearl in the 1980s.
The top Sporting Dog for 1970 was a Pointer by the name of Ch. Counterpoint’s Lord Ashley, whose record of 20 Bests in Show by a male Pointer has not been overtaken. Lord Ashley was bred by Ruth Still. Among his impressive wins were the APC national in 1965 and 1966 and the Group at Westminster twice. The decades of the 1970s and 80s saw many great accomplishments in the show ring and a historic first in 1978 when the first Dual Champion Pointer, excelling in field and conformation, was achieved: DC Scanpoint’s Touch of Troll, owned by Karin B. Ashe. Few could ever imagine going beyond a dual championship title, though DC/AFC Scanpoint’s MacKenzie did just that when, in 1984, he became the first Dual Champion Pointer to earn the Amateur Field Champion title. He was trained in the field by Steven Ashe and handled by Karin and Kristen Ashe.
The Marjetta kennels of Marjorie Martorella made a name in Pointers beginning in the 1970s. Marjorie bred her first Pointer litter in 1974 and over the past three decades has produced over 100 champions. Marjorie’s foundation dam, Ch. Truewithem A Taste of Triumph, sired by Ch. Counterpoint’s Lord Ashley, produced 4 BIS winners among her 29 champions: Ch. Marjetta Lord Carlton, Ch. Marjetta Lady Vanessa, Ch. Marjetta Mylestone and Ch. Marjetta National Acclaim, the 1985 Westminster victor, handled by Michael Zollo and owned by Mrs. Alan Robson. The Marjetta Pointers have been used as the foundation of many current kennels, including Birnamwood, Homestead, Karolina, Kingscroft, Olympus, Steinhoff and Sunset.
Coming into prominence in the early 1970s, the Shandown Pointers of Shan and Leon Shiver owned and produced many top Pointers; among them were Ch. Shandown’s King’s Ransom, Ch. Shandown’s Playboy, Ch. Shandown’s King of The Road, Ch. Shandown’s Dress Parade, Ch. Shandown’s Black Knight, Ch. Shandown’s Touch O’Kings and Ch. Shandown’s Diamond Jim.
Ch. Marjetta National Acclaim, Best in Show at Westminster in 1986, with handler Michael Zollo.
MORE THAN COMPARING LEMONS AND ORANGES
by Wayne Cavanaugh
In 1979 the very first Pointer with black pigment (a black nose and eye rims) to win the national specialty was Henri Tuthill’s orange and white Ch. Cumbrian Sea Breeze. He was 100% English breeding out of an imported dam and by an imported sire. Joyce and Athos Nilson had imported his sire, and Henri had imported his dam from George Holliday, who had obtained her from Peter Woodford at the Stonethorpe kennel. So after 40 consecutive years of liver-nosed national winners, Sea Breeze finally turned the tide.
Prior to this historic win, no Pointer had ever won the national, or even the breed at Westminster, that didn’t have liver nose and eye pigment; that is, they were all either livers or lemons. It is generally accepted worldwide that yellow-marked Pointers with liver eye and nose pigment are called “lemons,” and yellow-marked pointers with black noses are called “orange” regardless of the shade of yellow, which can be anything from deep bronze to pale buckskin. The reason for this is simple: they produce very different colors when bred—no black nose, no black puppies. Actually with the exception of a few superb imports in the late 1960s and early ’70s (a few Crookrise, Toberdoney and Cumbrian dogs from England, and later some from Scandinavia), oranges with black noses and black and white Pointers simply were not even seen in the show ring. That is, they were all liver and white, or the occasional recessive lemon and white, neither of which can carry for black!
The very next year, in 1980, another orange and white won the national, Ch. Rossenarra Amontillado of Crookrise, an orange and white English import. “Myles,” as he was known, was only bred to 7 times, due in part perhaps to his then “rare” color, but produced 22 champions, including 3 Best in Show winners—2 blacks and one orange—and still remains on the top sire list. Of the top 13 sires of all time, 6 are his descendants. Perhaps as important, 14 of the last 20 national Best of Breed winners are his descendants. Myles was tightly line-bred on Ch. Crookrise Flint of Kitty Edmonson’s old Crookrise line.
Ch. Marjetta National Acclaim, a liver and white, was a Best in Show winner at Westminster. “Deputy,” as he was known, was a line-bred dog of the old Truewithem line of the late Bob Parkers. Interestingly, he had a cross to one of those first wave of orange and white imports, Ch. Crookrise Jesse, through his sire’s side. Deputy was a hugely popular stud dog, sire of 107 champions, and also remains on the top of the top sire list in the number-one spot. Of the top 13 sires of all time, 3 are his descendants. While he never won the national specialty, 8 of the last 20 national Best of Breed winners were descendants of his; amazingly, all 8 are also descendants of Myles.
The year 1974 marks a special occasion for the Crookrise kennels of England and their dedicated breeders Walter and Kitty Edmonson. At the 1974 national show, Ch. Crookrise Greg won Best of Breed, the first time this kennel won the American national since their inception in the early 1900s. Another Crookrise dog won the national in 1980, this being Ch. Rossenarra Amontillado of Crookrise. Even though the kennel has not produced a top-winning dog in its history, being a small operation, the Crookrise dogs can be found in all but one of the dogs that have won the national specialty in the past 25 years. While the breed no longer has as many large gene pool families as it did in the past, there are few top-winning Pointers in the American show ring today that don’t have some variation of the old Crookrise-Truewithem (or a similar English-American cross). This longstanding kennel is continued on by the Edmondsons’ daughter, Cicely Robertshaw.
Sally Barton started her Coralwood kennels in 1977. Her acquisition of foundation sire and dam Ch. Sydmar Coralwoods Grand Slam and Ch. Sydmar the Heartless Wench from Paul Nykiel formed the basis of her current breeding line. She has produced many Best in Show Pointers, including Am./Can. Ch. Coralwood-Ash Hollows Bronx Bomber, Ch. Coralwood-Ash Hollows Wild Indian, Ch. Coralwood-Troon Leads The League and Ch. Coralwood Fielder’s Choice. One of the top dogs bred by Sally came in 1996, in Ch. Oncore’s C’Wood Sportin Good, bred with Dr. Patricia
