First hand knowledge?

[barryc]

I was wondering if any of you fellas have any first have knowledge about IFC Threejay's jack Smokey or IFC Speedy Sport. The way they ran, Personality's, Hunt or lack of, running style. Anything that you could share about these two dogs from first hand experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[gun runner]

I have a male out of sport,never seen sport run.But have talked to people about him and the people said he was a great dog no quit in him,a few of his dogs are tight mouth and do not have a loud voice.But dont get me wrong my male is a really good dog,no trash run,a good line good on checks ther is no quit in him and stayes busy would not trade him for anything.Like i said before he has a tight mouth that is his only down fall to me.Just put my 2 cents in hope that helps you alittle

[Dan440]

I agree with gun runner. I also have a male right off speedy sport. Quick, good line conrol, all day stamina, hunts hard, but is a little tight with his mouth

[Joe Parrino]

Barry, I'd speak to Vic Cronan, Vic got Speedy Sport from, Duan Johnson, Johnson Owned him & also owned FC Preator Duke at the same time if I remember right. Sandy Creek members could get you thier numbers. Mike Mcpherson had him at stud. These are the 3 guys I would talk to to get a great 1st hand info. 1 had him young 1 finished him and 1 ran and studed the hound. all 3 are easy to talk to, nice guys.

[Rick G]

I ran with and against Smokey several times, as well as her sister FTC Three Jay's Jack's Pepper who was bred to my Syris dog years back. Smokey and her littermats were all well above average hounds with great control and speed. And both were used regular as hunting dogs.They had great brains and could hold their cool in large pack trials and continue to run their rabbit! Not sure what Smokey produced in pups, but Pepper threw quite a few good ones that I saw run as young hounds. Both females were in the 15" class and nice looking to boot.. Speedy Sport, has been a top producing stud for years now, and comes from a great line of producing hounds. Both Smokey and Sport earned their championships winning against some really great hounds.

[deerhost]

As others have said, the best people to as about Speedy Sport would be Mike Mcpherson or Vic Cronan. I was at Mikes a few years back before Sport died. When I was there Sport was kenneled there because Mike was studding him out. I did not see him run that day but saw Sport. He was Grey and up there in age, but he was still a nice looking male and well put together. I watched and hunted over a bunch of his offsprings that Mike had at his Kennel and I made a few trips up to Mike's and he would always ask me "What do you want to see Run"? He would take out any dog I wanted to watch. And so I watched quit a few of them run. Mike had a 40 acre pen with a 2 or 3 story observation tower sarrounded by glass in the middle of the pen. You could sit there all day and see exactly every turn the rabbit and the dogs made. I also hunted over FC Hunt-em-up Hops Blazer, Hunt-em-up Magnum Suzie and IFC Hunt-em-up Sports Anna and my last trip up to his place I watched a bunch of pups who were Father to daugther cross out of Anna and Sport. I never watched Sport run because Mike was not the owner and did not want anything to happen to the dog and also because at the time Sport was about 14 years old. I own a little bitch directly out of Sport and Full sister to IFC Hunt-em-up Sports anna and FC GreenBay Lambou. This is what I can say on what I have seen from watching all those offspring. I never saw one that was tight mouth, actually some had a extra pop in the check, They did not lack mouth, there mouth was just weak, almost sounding like a wistle at times or a chirp But once the rabbit was up then it turned into a head down chop. Most are very small dogs with a small head, short ears and short snout and they prematurlly grey in the face. My female is 7 1/2 and she looks like she is 12 LOL! They have outstanding HUNT, NOSE and can flat move a rabbit, they are relentless trackers, most of the pups start early, Mike had one start at 13 weeks old. They are silent in the kennel. Some of the crosses made produced pups that were just too hard hitting for me but again I like a more conservative but still Footy style dog. The greatest thing I have seen from the pups and what I have gotton out of my Sport female when I breed her is (1) NOSE (2) HUNT (3) Drive and Check work. The longer the check goes on the more the odds go up that one of those Sport dogs would find the check. Depending on what He was bred to he could produce dogs any where from a 7 to 9 on Speed but most that I saw were at the top end on speed. My female is out of a cross to an SPO style bitch. She has all the qualities stated above but a 7 on speed. A negative to what I have seen is that some are too competitive at times. Mike ran only large pack and so he bred to achieve the max speed out of those crosses while still trying to mantain control.........Hope that helps.....DeerHost

[KanesIrish]

I judged Speedy Sport twice, both times at national settings...

[deerhost]

How did he Run??

[Mark T]

I have ran with Sport quite a bunch. Good friends with Vic and traveled alot with him back when he was stil trialing him. He ran him at my house a few times. He was very quick and clean for as fast as he was. Hunted very well, it would be hard to fault him running alone or with a small pack, 2-4 others. If you were looking for a fault he could maybe get a little rough with the pack pressure, but not any worse than the next. He had a great nose and excelled on snow. He was older when Vic got him, maybe 5yrs old or so when he started trialing him. He had a great record. I judged Smokey and ran with her at the club quite a bunch. I put the first win on her in the states. She was an exceptional female, one of the best I ever saw. Clean fast tons of hunt. I judged most all of Jack Blum's hounds, Threejays Jacks Cleo, Trouble, Pepper, Mac, Magie, Princess, Shadow, Flash, Mae, Lady Justice, Big Sugar, Midnight, Cindy (I owned her), Ace, Mad Max, Black Magic. Those are the ones I can name off the top of my head. They weren't all owned by Jack when they finished but he was the breeder. Most all of them ran similar to Smokey with varying degrees of speed and control. Some could be real rough at times, but they ALL hunted like there a$$ was on fire and ran for the front. They were all sired by Shaker and dams were either Angie, Cinder or Lucky Penny, all sisters. Smokey and Magie were probably the best, they were both out of Cinder, with Cleo, Princess, Lady and Flash close behind. Others may have another opinion on it but that it what I saw. Made a mistake here IFC Threejays Jacks Mac was sired by IFC Brankos Tallgrass Hank out of FTC Threejays Jacks Shadow

[deerhost]

Very good Mark!! thank you.

[KanesIrish]

I judged Speedy Sport at the 2000 AKC Large Pack National and the 2001 Trial of Champions.

At the 2000 Large Pack Nationals he wore the number 9, I won't forget that as long as I live. For the first 45 minutes to an hour we chased around a ghost trailer and a bunch of "me tooers", then we heard "tally ho". The sound of the pack had changed and your could hear the roar from the pack. My first three looks at the pack a white faced, graying tri color dog had the front end with the hare right between his legs and wasn't looking back....the number 9. About an hour later the pack broke down, we had a line going straight through the gallery and only one dog was at the point of loss...the number 9. Another older dog appeared and the two of them stayed and worked, they knew it was there but couldn't get it up. After about 15 to 20 minutes we let people walk through the line. After that we worked the two hounds up maybe 50 feet and the "9" got real happy ducked into the Christmas trees and turned it into a run. He started to fade a bit during the day but was still doing enough work at a consistent basis to be considered for the win. He held off Tom Cheney's Hemlock Hill Hare Trigger, who was running on his home grounds and was starting to make a push for the win. I was truly impressed with that old dog that day, and the Hare Trigger dog as well...both of them showed a lot of talent. When the announced the winners, they called off FC Speedy Sport. That trial put Speedy Sport on the map, because until that point he was really under the radar.

He finished quick in Canada, he won fairly large classes, in very bad conditions and by Spring in 2001 he was an IFC. Before the Nationals they had bred Milt's Bea Good Bonnie to him to produce Stein's Speedy Eddie, Stein's Sport's Paige, Tughill Buddy Black, and Tug Hill Candy Mae, as well as a pup that Steve Guy had that took a second in Canada in his first trial and then was lost in the wild. This litter stamped him as a producer and that was solidified at the 2004 Large Pack Nationals, when FC Stein's Sport's Paige won, IFC Hunt Em Up Sport's Anne (I believe thats how you spell it) was second and FC Tug Hill Candy Mae was 4th in the little bitches. In all the trials that I had judged the 2004 AKC Large Pack Nationals 13" Bitch Class was one of the best, if not the best. In the 13" Male class two Sport grandsons out of FC Tug Hill Buddy Black took first and second.

I judged him again at the Trial of Champions the next summer, in 2001. Bad conditions and hare that were sitting tight made it a frustrating day. I believe Speedy Sport went to the end, but didn't place. That class was won by another nice hound, IFC Branko's Dirty Pond Laika.

I had the chance of judging many of Sport's sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, and probably now we are onto another generation. Many of which I placed and you could definitely see that Speedy Sport stamp in his pups

He was a dominant stud dog for sure. You could see a lot of his ability in his pups: fast and flashy (edgy type) when the hare or rabbit was up, but when you lost it they didn't stray far from the loss. Those two males that Tex cleaned up the Nationals with for years were out of a Speedy Sport male and a Hemlock Hare Trigger bitch...I always thought that was funny.

[KanesIrish]

As far as Smokey went, I never got to see her go.

I did get to see many of the Three J Jack's dogs go and only placed one, IFC Three J's Jack's Stormy...she was an excellent little hound. I believe I placed her on a couple different occasions. I also liked the Magie dog that Harry Snow owned. I believe I only judged her once or twice, I think she went to the end but didn't place...but you could see that she was a very good dog. Harry has done very well with her offspring.

[deerhost]

Hey Rob, Thank you, That was excellent, you can't get more first hand Knowledge then that.

[Mark T]

Magie was one of, if not the best, I got to see from Jack. Harry and I judged her the day she finished in Canada and Harry bought her after that, she was impressive for sure. I ran quite alot with Harry back then and she was always top notch. Jack always bragged he would travel across the country to run under me!! I like that type of dog, he got picked up his fair share too, but he usually had more than one in and if one was picked chances are the other was doing well. This thread brings up great memories for me. I traveled with Vic to the Nationals in the UP in 2001. Sport stayed but no ribbon. He was gettin up on age by then, I think he was born in 1994. He was an excellent dog to have around. Great manners in the kennel, truck or with other dogs. He was very fast for his size, he would really surprise you with that. I don't know if he was 14 inches tall but he ran like he was 15+. Vic only kept a few dogs, he really brought out the best in them and Sport was no exception. Like Rob said he finished real fast. He was getting, what most of us would think is, past prime before he even started campaining him.

[blueridgemtn]

Have a female off of Speedy Sport great dog she has all kinds of hunt good speed good check only flaw with her that we have seen is her squeaky mouth but she is honest with it , it just doesn't sound good and she is a little tight with it though. Got some pups out of her right now that the sire has got a little bigger nose got real high hopes for the pups .