Jenny’s Quest now holds a strong hand in the race for the HTA senior championship after a key win in a rare Friday meeting at Buttermere.
She is now three clear of Duchess Ava with Winterfell a point further back in third.
It was the win at Buttermere over Winterfell which has really handed the initiative to Jenny’s Quest as if the result had gone the other way there would have only been two in it and six meetings to go.
Jenny’s Quest was one of the earliest hounds to be entered and although Winterfell was expected to arrive from Yorkshire there was no sign of him or connections ten minutes before the off.
They arrived soon after explaining that the traffic en-route had been really bad and the two title aspirants were in the slip of nine hounds.
At the halfway point the two protagonists were running together, side by side as they picked their way through the bracken and across the beck and the road.
They remained together over the last fence approaching the long finish where Jenny’s Quest just got up to win by a yard.
Winterfell had been ahead on the finish but just couldn’t manage the last few yards, which was a disappointment for the Bell family after their delayed trip from Yorkshire, and the owners Barry Laidler and Caroline Clough.
The pair are likely to clash twice more at Buttermere and also twice at Millstone Moor but the odds now really favour Jenny’s Quest.
There were 13 entries for the puppy trail where table leader and champion elect Huntsman’s Rebel was sent off the favourite.
As they went through the first gate a number of hounds got wrong and both Huntsman’s Rebel and Huntsman’s Rally got away. It left the others with a lot of work to do to correct themselves and then chase down the two leaders.
As it happened they couldn’t make much headway and the two leaders came well in front with Huntsman’s Rebel pulling away to win by a few yards.
The first of the chasing pack was Graham Reid’s Strawberry Mick followed by Jonty Moore’s Ned’s Gain.
The last race of the day was the open restricted with nine runners. Forlorn Spring was the evens favourite but it was Huntsman’s Quirk who came on the finish with the Bell family’s Ron and just held on to round off a disappointing day for the Yorkshire kennel.
Two of the last six meetings of the HTA season are being held at a relatively new venue in Cumrew.
Although a well-used trail in the Border Association it was only used briefly last season.
The Aspatria and Wigton Area is putting on the trails this afternoon and again on Thursday, August 27 as the season reaches a climax four days later.
Area chairman Andy Horn said: “The trail has been used by the Border Association for a number of years and proved a good one for us last year.
“We are looking forward to putting on these two meetings at a particularly exciting time of the season.
“The trail starts with a few fields and dykes and is then run on the fell with good viewing for spectators for the last six or seven minutes.
“This first meeting will have the usual prize money but for the last one next Thursday it will be £200 a trail and we have five races.
“It’s our way of thanking those owners and trainers who have kept their hounds running until the last week of the season.”
Buttermere stages trails at the Show on Sunday and again next Saturday while the other two meetings are at Millstone Moor on Tuesday, Oct 25 and Monday, Oct 31 the final day of the season.
21st October – Buttermere
Hounds – 1. Jenny’s Quest; 2. Winterfell; 3. Jenny’s Oracle; 4. Miterdale Dusk; 5. Mitrerdale Honesty; 6. Monsoon. 9 ran, time 30.40.
Pups – 1. Huntsman’s Rebel; 2. Huntsman’s Rally; 3. Strawberry Mick; 4. Ned’s Gain; 5. Lucky Lottie; 6. Malia. 13 ran, time 16.12.
Open Restricted – 1. Huntsman’s Quirk; 2. Ron; 3. Forlorn Spring; 4. Bretton; 5. Oakbank Izzy; 6. Black Eyed Mist. 8 ran, time 16.55.
