There was a three-card meeting at Cold Fell where the trails were in aid of the Great North Air Ambulance.
The senior hounds were first away from the slip and there was a good field of 23 hounds.
Unusually there were no bookmakers present for the evening so people had to settle for just watching the hounds compete.
As the senior hounds came back onto the finish it was the in-form Strawberry Mick for Graham Reid from Cockermouth who finished well to beat Foxparke Beep Beep in second place.
Strawberry Mick appears to be in good order at the moment with this being his second win in a week. That moves him up the championship table to join Duchess Ava and Huntsman’s Quartz all on three wins.
Next into race action were the Open Puppies with a slightly smaller field of 17 runners. Embrace was running again, looking to repeat his win from last week as he bids yo reduce the lead of table topping Rodney Raider.
As they showed on the finish there were two hounds with a slight lead and it was Embrace who just managed to hold on from a strong challenge by Graham and Les Reid’s Mel who finished in second.
The win for Embrace was his eleventh of the season and he is now only four points behind Rodney Raider. Silver Dream, for Darren and Julie McMaster finished in third with Bill and Pat Mellon ‘s hound Artist coming home in fourth place.
The last race of the night was the Open maiden race and again there was a good turnout of hounds with 25 running.
As they came onto the finish any one of five or six hounds had the chance to go on and win but it was Carol and Stanley Jackson’s Clementine who just pipped Eden Romina to take the win.
Both Carol and Stanley were pleased with the win having a had a bit of a bad run with injuries so it was a positive end to the evening for them. Second place for Eden Romina was enough to take her to the top of the Open maiden points competition two points clear of Missriff.
In a busy week the traditional sheepdog trials took place on Thursday at Ings and they have always had hound trails alongside the trials. There was a three-card meeting on this occasion with very good prize money for the ticketing hounds, each trail being worth £150.
The type of fell and the timing of the trails coming just before the Premier Trails on Saturday can often mean that there isn’t always a lot of dogs at the trails but this time the numbers were up on last year.
The seniors were first to go and there was a field of four with Huntsman’s Quantum setting out as favourite, especially after his win on Monday just down the road at Grasmere.
However, when the hounds came in it was Miterdale Duchess who came home well to win, repeating her success of last year at the same venue.
It’s well seen that the warm weather is back as she seems to excel in these sort of conditions and copes really well with the heat. Huntsman’s Quantum finished second and Bretton for Julie Birkinshaw finished in third.
The open pups were next with seven runners and it was a tight affair on the line with Hunter’s Zodiac just hanging on to win by a short head for Caroline Graham, Stephen Irving, Jo Burrows and Denis Reay, much to their delight as this was her first Open Puppy championship win.
She beat home Denise Bland’s Huntsman’s Sunshine who was finishing fast but just couldn’t get up before the line came.
The last race of the day was for the Open Restricted hounds with 12 runners and it was the veteran hound Huntsman’s Major for Denise Bland who came in first. He was ahead of Maverick for Joseph Abram and Sadie Wilson, followed by Christine Brownlee’s Monsoon.
The second place extends Maverick’s lead in the Open Restricted points competition and potentially looks like he won’t be caught, having now extended his lead to thirty points.
The season is now half-way through and on Saturday it is the Premier Trails one of the blue riband events in the calendar. The event will host a six-card meeting with each trail being worth £160 plus trophies and rosettes.
This year the trail is being hosted by the Carlisle and Penrith Area and the Border Supporters Club, the venue being Edges Green which would have formerly been part of the Border Association.
One of the big benefits of the BHTA merging with the HTA is that it has opened up the option of using all of the wide open space in the border region which is proving very tempting for many of the HTA members when it comes to running their hounds.
The first trail slips at 1pm and for those wanting to attend they need to head towards Newcastle along the A69, turn left off the A69 at Greenhead and then take the first right and follow the Military road and there will be signs out which will lead to the trails. There will be on field bookmaking and catering.
Cold Fell – August 9
- Hounds – 1. Strawberry Mick; 2. Foxparke Beep Beep; 3. Cracking Last One Two; 4. Cautious; 5. Busy Again; 6. Lady Million. 23 ran, time 29.58.
- Pups – 1. Embrace; 2. Mel; 3. Silver Dream; 4. Artist; 5. Huntsman’s Sparkle; 6. Money Talks. 17 ran, time 18.18.
- Open Maiden – 1. Clementine; 2. Eden Romina; 3. Foxparke Fair Lady; 4. Foxparke Dealer; 5. Foxparke Side Kick; 6. Red Baaeed. 25 ran, time 19.02.
Ings – August 10
- Hounds – 1. Miterdale Duchess; 2. Huntsman’s Quantum; 3. Bretton. 4 ran, only three finished. Time 33.33
- Pups – 1. Hunter’s Zodiac; 2. Huntsman’s Sunshine; 3. Sarah Jane; 4. Glamorous Ava; 5. Huntsman’s Star; 6. Thorn Gift. 7 ran, time 20.34.
- Open Restricted – 1. Huntsman’s Major; 2. Maverick; 3. Monsoon; 4. Thorn Pop; 5. Thorn Rose; 6. Malia. 12 ran, time 18.17.
