The Great Ones – Percy Roberts

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104 – June, 2021

By Kerrin Winter-Churchill

Until 1998 when Peter Green won his fourth Best In Show at Westminster, Percy Roberts held the record for most Best In Show wins there. Roberts’ first big win at the Garden came in 1926 with the Wire Fox Terrier Ch. Signal Circuit of Halleston, followed by the Sealyham Terrier bitch Ch. Pinegrade Perfection, owned by Frederic Brown of New York, in 1927. His next two Bests at the Garden were with Wires, in 1934 with Ch. Flornell Spicy Bit of Halleston and in 1937 with Ch. Flornell Spicypiece of Halleston.

Although Roberts’ wins at the Garden are certainly impressive, they are even more so when one realizes that all three Wires were discovered and imported by Roberts for his client Stanley Halle. But Roberts’ legend is not made just of Westminster wins. If there was a record to be had Roberts often seized it. In such fashion Percy Roberts piloted the great watershed Irish Setter sire Ch. Higgins Red Pat to lasting fame and glory by winning the first Morris & Essex show in 1927. Today, Irish Setter fanciers are well-acquainted with Red Pat as the old, great show dog behind everything that is good in Irish Setters. In fact, Percy went on to show two of Red Pat’s greatest sons, Ch. Rosecroft Premier and Ch. Milson’s O’Boy, both sensational show dogs, far surpassing their immortal sire in structure and champion-producing progeny.

Unlike today when the expression “dog dealer” has a negative connotation, Roberts took great pride in the title and rightly so. In an age when the American dog show scene was being built with bloodstock from overseas, Roberts created an importing business that lasted almost 40 years and helped contribute to the popularity of many of the breeds that Americans hold dear today. He imported and was successful with a wide range of breeds including Whippets, Poodles, Irish and Gordon Setters, Scotties, Norfolks, Norwich, Sealyhams, Wire and Smooth Fox Terriers, Cairns, Irish and Kerry Blue Terriers, Cardigan and Pembroke Welsh Corgis —to name just a few.

The Birth of Showmanship

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104 – June, 2021

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