Buttermere staged the penultimate meeting of the HTA season and after a rather damp start the weather did improve.
There were nine runners in the opening senior trail with new senior champion Jenny’s Quest and Jenny’s Oracle sent off the joint favourites.
At the halfway point when they came into view Oracle had a good lead over Quest going into the second half of the trail.
Then when they got as far as the last field Oracle still had a handy lead over the champions.
But approaching the finish Oracle began to falter and slowed almost to a standstill which allowed Quest to flash past and win by a yard-and-a-half.
There were only four runners for the senior maiden with Overwater Eddie sent off the 4/6 favourite.
At the slip his owner Emily Irving had stern words to try and keep him focused as on Tuesday at Millstone Moor he had showed with a massive lead before going back on the trail.
At half-way he appeared to have learnt his lesson because he enjoyed a big lead. But thoughts went back to the last time at Buttermere when he had made a little mistake and had ran on where he should have started to drop in.
But there was no mistake this time as he kept his head together and finished with a good lead from Black Edition, owned by Lisa and Holly Whitfield.
There were six runners for the pups and the two Huntsmen – champion Rebel and Rally were slipped as joint favourites.
It was Huntsman’s Rebel who came with the lead and just about broke the clock taking another half minute off her best time which was just ten seconds from being void as under time.
There were seven puppy maidens and it was Geoff Higgins’ Lucky Lottie who finally scored a win after knocking on the door for several trails.
She beat kennelmate Kinniside Bobby with Foxparke Whoosh in third place.
The final race of the day was the open restricted and Oakbank Izzy just had to get round the trail and pick up points to win the grade championship.
There were only four runners and it was Overwater Louie this time who was made favourite and came with a good lead.
It gave the Irving family a double on the day as Louie beat Izzy.
Most points competitions and the Championship have now been decided, all except the puppy maidens which will be resolved on Monday at the final meeting of the season at Millstone Moor.
October 29 – Buttermere
- Hounds – 1. Jenny’s Quest; 2. Jenny’s Oracle; 3. Charisma; 4. Huntsman’s Quirk; 5. Monsoon; 6. Bretton. 9 ran, time 27.22.
- Maidens – 1. Overwater Eddie; 2. Black Edition; 3. Babyliss; 4. Solitaire. 4 ran, Time 29.50.
- Pups – 1. Huntsman’s Rebel; 2. Huntsman’s Rally; 3. Ned’s Gain; 4. Malia; 5. Clementine; 6. Thorn Thunder. 6 ran, time 15.10.
- Puppy Maidens – 1. Lucky Lottie; 2. Kinniside Bobby; 3. Foxparke Whoosh; 4. Paddy The Plaster; 5. Tommy’s Dream; 6. Twilight Mist. 7 ran, time 15.55.
- Open Restricted – 1. Overwater Louie; 2. Oakbank Izzy; 3. Eden Rayna; 4. Eden Romina. 4 ran, time 16.10.
