The title Best in Show is awarded to the dog chosen as winner of the annual Crufts dog show, according to conformation show rules. This title was first awarded in 1928, the initial winner being Primley Sceptre, a fawn Greyhound.[1] Previously, Crufts had used the title "Best Champion", sponsored by the Illustrated Kennel News, which was awarded from 1905 to 1914.[2][3][4][5] The first winner of Best Champion was Ch. The Sable Mite, a Pomeranian.[2] According to Crufts: The Official History the first winner of that award was the first dog to be considered the "best" at a Crufts show, although it only lists winners between 1906 and 1912.[6]
When Best Champion was introduced at Crufts in 1905,[2] it was seen by Charles Cruft as an extension of the other titles already available at the show. The class was one of several classes reserved for Crufts subscribers at the cost of a guinea per year. Because of the restriction in entry, there were years when the winner of Best Champion was defeated in other classes which were not restricted to subscribers.[7] Crufts was not the first dog show in the UK to introduce this type of title, the first event to do so was at the Cambridge Canine Society Show in 1900.[8]
The change to Best in Show was considered by the press to be of little significance and was not promoted by Charles Cruft,[9] and did not require a dog to have won its Best of Breed class until 1936.[1] It did however remove restrictions on entry, which remained until the mid-1960s when entry to Crufts was restricted to dogs who had already become a champion by gaining championship points at other dog shows.[10]
The most successful breed in the modern era since Best in Show was introduced has been the English Cocker Spaniel. Of the breed's seven show titles, all but one of them were owned and bred by Herbert Summers Lloyd (known predominantly as H. S. Lloyd) from the "of Ware" kennel.[11] Only four dogs have won Best in Show on more than one occasion, and on three of these occasions they were English Cocker Spaniels owned by Lloyd. The fourth occasion was a Labrador Retriever named Bramshaw Bob,[12] owned by Countess Lorna Howe who is the second most successful breeder in the show's history as she also won Best in Show once more with another Labrador in 1937, Ch. Cheveralla Ben of Banchory.[13] Although no dog has won Crufts more than once since H. S. Lloyd's Tracey Witch of Ware in 1950,[14] owner Jackie Lorimer won the title in 1993 with Irish Setter Sh Ch. Danaway Debonair and again with the dog's son, Sh Ch. Caspians Intrepid in 1999.[15]
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
dogdigital66was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c "Catalogue: Cruft's 1905" (PDF). Cruft's. The Kennel Club. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ "Catalogue: Cruft's 1914" (PDF). Cruft's. The Kennel Club. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ^ Jackson (1990): p. 194
- ^ Jackson (1990): p. 195
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
jack90was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Jackson (1990): p. 91
- ^ Bengton (2008): p. 216
- ^ Jackson (1990): p. 108
- ^ Bengton (2008): p. 66
- ^ "Mr. Herbert Summers Lloyd M.B.E." The Cocker Spaniel Club of Ireland. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
jack112was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
jack117was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Top Dog" (PDF). The Children's Newspaper. LookandLearn.com. 4 March 1950. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
- ^ "Challenge Certificate Record Holders". Dogworld. 4 June 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2010.[permanent dead link]