Although weather conditions were much improved last night at Cold Fell compared to Monday’s meeting at Potters Park the number of runners was down.
This was possibly die to the fact that trails are being staged today at Sewing Shields.
The first race was for the seniors with 12 runners and there was no table leader Winterfell, presumably running tonight at Sewing Shields.
As they showed there were four of five hounds in with a chance with the eventual winner Apache Raider a bad second.
However, once on the clear ground he finished fast to take first place with a few yards to spare for Debbie and Lana McGee.
In second place was Huntsman’s Quartz for Ian Donaldson with Stephen Riley and Isla Hetherington’s Cautious in third place. The fast finishing Busy Again came through to take fourth place for Alan Blacklock with Cracking Last One Two finishing in fifth and Miterdale Duchess finishing in sixth.
The Duchess is still managing to get in the tickets but first place is still eluding her, meaning she isn’t able to make any ground up on Winterfell who still remains three points clear in the Championship.
Luckily for Miterdale Duchess her rival Winterfell has also been unable to get a first ticket. Indeed he has been struggling to get any sort of ticket at the moment although his fortunes may change tonight.
More than likely, though, he will be up against Huntsman’s Rebel who in her current form could quite easily start to catch both the top pair and challenge them for the Championship title.
Next in action were the open pups, again with a smaller field than usual of just seven hounds. Table leader Rodney Raider was an absentee, probably with Sewing Sheilds in mind.
Embrace was sent off favourite and as they showed he came with a good lead 200 yards clear of the next hound to win easily, finishing well and taking his tally of wins to 10.
Now joint second in the puppy championship table owners Laura Steele, Andrew and Joel Bulman and Ian Rumney were all very pleased with his return to good form.
It was rather tighter for second place with Artist for Bill and Pat Mellon and Tina and Robert Airey just holding off a challenge from Silver Dream who finished in third place.
The open maiden race had thirteen runners and it was Milo Moon for Tracey Hill who came clear to win the race from David Clifford’s Eden Romina and then Gary Woodend’s Twilight Mist who continues to improve with her fourth ticket in the last three weeks.
The last race of the night was for the Open Restricted with only eight runners and it was Joseph Abraham’s and Sadie Wilson’s Maverick who came to win the race from Lisa Whitfield’s Tommy’s Dream in second and Alex Steel and Donna Bingham’s Oakbank Izzy in third place.
The win further extends Maverick’s lead in the Open Restricted Points Competition to 64 points, putting him 24 points clear of Thorn Pop in second place.
Sewing Shields tonight, along the military road off the A69, has a four-card meeting with the first trail being slipped at 6pm.
