Snapshots of English Setter History

This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, October 2011 issue.

Snapshots of English Setter History

The most famous English Setter to not finish an AKC championship was Rummey Stagboro, who was born in 1929. He simply could not beat the great Ch. Blue Dan of Happy Valley in the show ring. Eventually, he was withdrawn from competition.

Instead of show glory, Rummey built his reputation as a top-producing sire, producing 33 champions, a truly remarkable total for the time. This list of champions contains some very well-known, big-winning English Setters. One of these was Ch. Sturdy Max, who was considered by many to be the English Setter who best typified the breed ideal.

Rummey Stagboro became truly revered by English Setter breeders of the day, and he had great influence on the breed for many years. Ironically, Ch. Blue Dan of Happy Valley, who denied Rummey his championship in the show ring, fizzled as a stud dog, siring only three champions.

Perhaps one of the most interesting English Setter stories is that of Ch. Daro of Maridor, who remains the only English Setter to win Best in Show at Westminster. Daro was just shy of eleven months old when he took the world of canine sport by storm, winning his way out of the classes to go Best in Show at the 1938 Westminster show. This was the first time he had been shown.

Afterwards, he disappeared from the show scene with no explanation. Later, it was disclosed that he had been ill with distemper, which nearly killed him. It was thought for a time that Daro’s show career had ended. But he recovered and resumed showing. Daro won the 1940 and 1941 English Setter Association specialties.

When Daro won the breed (and Group 2) at Westminster in 1942, a wire service reporter wrote, ‘Daro’s present return to top form after much illness is considered one of the most striking comebacks in the history of canine sport.’

The period from the 1930s through the 1950s was the era of the large kennel. There was no kennel larger in size and importance to the English Setter than C.N. Myers’ Blue Bar Kennels in Hanover, Pa. Myers’ kennel operation lasted for over twenty years, closing in 1957.

At times, there were as many as 400 English Setters housed there. Between 1934 and 1959, at least 125 Blue Bar English Setters finished their AKC championships. Myers’ English Setters won eight ESA/ESAA specialties between 1939 and 1957.

It is a rare English Setter today that does not have a Blue Bar dog in its pedigree. Myers could be considered one of the finest sportsmen in canine sport. He became involved in breeding and exhibiting English Setters after becoming unbeatable at breeding and showing poultry.

In 1934, towards the end of an eight-year run of sweeping all of the major prizes at the New York Poultry Show at Madison Square Garden (Yes, there were poultry shows at the Garden!), he converted his poultry barns to kennels and began acquiring and breeding English Setters.

As Arthur Fredrick Jones wrote of Myers in 1939, ‘Mr. Myers believes that sport lies in the thought and effort required to accomplish results. He cannot see wherein there is sport when the result is a foregone conclusion.’ Thus, having outclassed his competition, he abandoned poultry showing and launched his Blue Bar Kennels. The kennel name was a reference to Myers’ famed Barred Plymouth Rock chickens.

The biggest-winning English Setter of all time was the immortal Am./Can./Cuban Ch. Rock Falls Colonel, who was born in 1948. The Colonel’s show career is the stuff of legend. He became an AKC champion of record in May of 1950 and won his first Best in Show on September 16, 1950.

By the time he was finished in 1957, he had won 100 AKC Bests in Show, a Cuban BIS, and a Canadian BIS out of 186 times shown. He was handled his entire career by his ‘amateur’ handler, breeder/owner Bill Holt. There was more to Colonel than his incredible show record and his prowess as a sire. He was perhaps the breed’s best ambassador. A number of breeders got involved with English Setters after seeing him compete. It was common for a group of people to gather around the Colonel after a win in the ring, and Mr. Holt would let anyone who asked hold Colonel’s leash.

On one such occasion, a young boy asked to hold the leash and Bill complied. Minutes later, the boy and the Colonel were gone. A frantic search found them both outside of the building. The youngster was walking the Colonel home, firm in the belief that the Colonel had been given to him as a pet!

The most accomplished English Setter was Dual Ch. Am/Can Ch. Set’r Ridge’s Solid Gold CDX MH HDX CGC. ‘Hadji’ is the top-producing English Setter sire of all time, producing 139 AKC champions to date. He is also the first bench English Setter to be successfully bred using frozen semen.

Hadji won the 1988 ESAA Futurity, the 1993 ESAA National Specialty, eight All Breed Bests in Show, and ten Bests in Specialty overall—all owner-handled. He finished his field trial championship at nine years of age to become the eighth Dual Champion in the breed’s history. He is the only Dual Ch. English Setter to win a Best in Show or a National Specialty. In addition to his accomplishments, Hadji is remembered as an amazingly striking example of the breed and for having a great disposition.

When it comes to show glory, English Setter bitches were late to the party. Before the 1960s, it was not common to see bitch ‘specials’ in the show ring. Breeders finished their bitches, then took them home to breed.

For example, when Ch. Mary of Blue Bar went Best of Breed (and Group 3) at the 1949 Morris and Essex show, she was the only bitch to win BOB at either Westminster or Morris and Essex for 25 years, from 1931 (the inception of the ESA) until 1956. Today, English Setter bitches hold the breed records for most Group wins, most Best in Specialty wins, and most National Specialty wins.

The Best in Specialty Show wins record stands at 29 and is held by Am./Can. Ch. Kaska’s Isadora, who was handled by her owner Lindsey Kuhn. Lindsey and ‘Izzy’ began their special partnership in 2004 when Lindsay was a 15-year-old junior and Izzy was two years old and not yet an AKC champion. By the time their record-breaking run was over in 2008, dog and handler had grown up together in the sport, and theirs will become known as one of the greatest dog/handler partnerships in the history of the breed.