Conditions for running were good at Redmain last night as there had been quite a bit of rain the day before and the morning of the HTA meeting.
The evening was cool, too, so just nice for the dogs to perform at their best in the latest round of Championship trails.
The first race was for the senior hounds with a good slip of 31 runners and a good class of hound competing.
Championship leader Winterfell was back out and taking on his closest rival for the title in Miterdale Duchess. Also present in the race was Silver Streak, who ticketed as a pup last year but didn’t win any of the trails at Redmain, along with Lady Million who had also ticketed last year as a pup.
Also in the field was Hunter’s Flame, who might have been considered a course specialist having won twice last year but hasn’t really struck form this season.
Silver Streak and Miterdale Duchess went off as favourite but as they came back into sight there was a large group of hounds together.
As they cleared the last fence a small group had broken away and were running head to head – Duchess Ava who seems to be back on form; Silver Streak who has also improved over recent weeks and Lady Million.
As they crossed the line it was very tight with just a short head separating the first three hounds. The judge had to refer to the camera to see if they could be separated and the decision went to Duchess Ava who won for James McClelland by a very short head followed by Silver Streak for Darren McMaster, Anthony Skelton, Sadie Wilson and Phil Graham.
Lady Million finished in third for Joy and Brian Lister who were very pleased with her performance having been off for a short period with a minor injury.
Strawberry Mick followed close behind for the Reid brothers with Miterdale Duchess in fifth place. Winterfell was outside the tickets, perhaps not favouring the open fields and dykes.
He might have better luck on Sunday when the trails return to Helton where he seems to prefer the open running of the moor.
The win for Duchess Ava gave her a third championship win of the season and it’s good to see the little bitch coming back on form.
Next up were the open pups with a field of 28 runners and table leader Rodney Raider went off as favourite followed closely by Silver Dream and Embrace, as the latter has improved over the last couple of weeks and is getting back to the impressive performance that he showed at the start of the season.
Again when the hounds came back in to sight there was a large group of hounds with any one of them having a chance to come away and take the race.
As they cleared the last fence and came up the long finish there were four hounds running abreast and it would be a case of which one would put in that last ditch effort to get to the bait box first.
The two smaller bitches seemed more keen and just broke away from the two dogs with Silver Dream, as she has done so many times this year, just stretching out to take the win for Darren and Julie McMaster and Anthony Skelton.
She won by half a length from Glamorous Ava, for James McClelland, with Embrace finishing a close third and Rodney Raider content to finish in fourth place.
The crowd had enjoyed two very tight and exciting finishes so would the open restricted trail also be as exciting.
With the biggest slip of the night 32 hounds set-off with Thorn Pop backed down to favourite.
This time, as they came onto the finish, they were slightly more spread out but it wasn’t any less exciting with Dream Catcher for Joy and Brian Lister coming with a lead and only having to cross the line to win.
However the very fast finishing Foxparke Sassy Girl just stole it from her in the last few seconds. Foxparke Sassy Girl, owned by the Napiers, was repeating her win from Saturday and is running exceptionally well at the moment for the Foxparke team who were not expecting her to win again but were clearly pleased.
All in all it was a good night’s trailing and now action moves back to the fell at Latrigg on Thursday night with the first race slipping at 6.00pm.
Redmain – July 11
- Hounds – 1. Duchess Ava; 2. Silver Streak; 3. Lady Million; 4. Strawberry Mick; 5. Miterdale Duchess; 6. Summer Spirit. 31 ran, time 29.37.
- Pups – 1. Silver Dream; 2. Glamorous Ava; 3. Embrace; 4. Rodney Raider; 5. Sarah Jane; 6. Foxparke Side Kick. 28 ran, time 18.42.
- Open Restricted – 1. Foxparke Sassy Girl; 2. Dream Catcher; 3. Foxparke Jiggly Puff; 4. Thorn Pop; 5. Black Edition; 6. Foxparke Lady Ava. 32 ran, time 19.10.
