Clearly an anti-hound survey (Houndist?) ;^)
In any case, from MY personal experience, the beagles and basset hounds have been WAY smarter than the Labs/Retrievers have ever dreamed of being.
And my wife and I have a good bit of experience with all three breeds.
Hounds follow their instincts, but they aren’t particularly trainable. My friend’s beagle could track rabbits like nobody’s business, but wouldn’t sit or stay.
On the other hand, I knew a woman who ran her bloodhound in agility trials. I think she dragged a scent trail through the course until he got good at it.
I've never seen a beagle do a 250 yard mark in heavy cover.
On the other hand, my Labs aren't very good at tracking rabbits.
I've known Labs that were as dumb as a bag of hammers, of course, but mine are pretty smart. They're intensively trained, though.