The first of a series of three meetings at Dearham took place last night in pleasant conditions after the unfavourable weather earlier in the week.
The running for the hounds was perfect and the seniors got things underway with a quality field of hounds with Strawberry Mick sent off the favourite.
Silver Streak was second favourite at 4/1 with kennel mate Silver Dream stepping up a grade to run in the senior hounds on offer at 6/1.
As they came back onto the finish it was Strawberry Mick for Graham Reid who finished well to win with a few yards to spare on Silver Dream, who demonstrated that she can obviously cope well with the increase in distance.
She finished well in second place for Darren and Julie McMaster with Silver Streak a few yards behind in third place.
Alan Blacklock’s Busy Again took fourth place while second-in-the-table Miterdale Duchess ran well but could only manage fifth place. Owner Denis Peare was pleased with her performance given that she has had an issue with her foot in recent weeks.
The sixth ticket went to Foxparke Mysteriously who also finished well.
Next were the open pups with 14 runners and table leader Rodney Raider was back out running again and doubling up after his second place the night before at Moss Peteral.
Running on home ground he was expected to be hard to beat, especially as second-in-the-table Embrace wasn’t running and was having a well-earned rest after his win the night before.
The Dearham kennel obviously wanted to make the most of the home running and perhaps felt the need to keep extending the gap between Rodney Raider and Embrace in race for the puppy championship.
Co-owner David Todhunter was at the trails and keen to see how his hound would perform on home soil.
As they came back onto the finish it was Rodney Raider and Glamorous Ava who were the front two hounds. However, Rodney Raider also known as Chunk in the kennel, just came away as they neared the line to win by a couple of lengths much to the delight of David.
Glamorous Ava took second place for James McClelland while Bill and Pat Mellon and Robert and Tina Airey’s Artist finished well in third place after making a slight mistake at the last fence. Otherwise she might have given the front two hounds a run for their money.
Foxparke Fair Lady and Foxparke Side Kick finished fourth and fifth with Graham and Les Reid’s Mel taking the sixth icket.
The last race of the night was for the Open Restricted with a good field of 17 hounds. In the bookies ring it was an open field but Thorn Pop was the stand-out dog on the night.
As they came down towards the finish it was Thorn Pop who had a good lead but she slowed once in the last field and the fast finishing Dream Catcher actually crossed the line before her.
However, Colin Satterthwaite was pleased with the five points that Thorn Pop had gained as she is slowly catching Maverick in the Open Restricted points competition and is now only 16 points behind the long-standing leader.
The Foxparke team bagged another ticket with Honk Honk finishing well in third place followed home by the Hill’s Milo Moon and John Lyon’s Black Eyed Mist who ran well to get fifth ticket.
In sixth was Tommy’s Dream who was obviously feeling happier than he was on Tuesday night at Bridekirk when he returned to the start shortly after being slipped.
Lisa Whitfield had spoiled him prior to coming to the trails by giving him a bath and a short back and sides so he was obviously feeling pleased with himself, more so than Tuesday anyway!
There is an action-packed weekend ahead with trails on Saturday at Wythop. All the trails have been kindly sponsored by Lindsay’s Butchers from Cockermouth.
It’s a four card meeting with the first trail slipping at 1pm and all proceeds from this meeting and the previous Wythop trails will go to a number of different local charities.
Then on Sunday action moves back up into the borders with a five-card meeting at Carret Rigg with the first trail slipping at 1pm.
These trails are in aid of Cancer Research and the Border Supporters group have organised these trails for a number of years which are usually well supported.
There will be a trophy presented for the Senior Hounds in memory of Les Richardson (Tucker) which has kindly been donated by his family and there will be rosettes for all the ticketing hounds.
For more information regarding fixtures and the sport in general then please visit the web page houndtrailingassociation.com
September 21 – Dearham
- Hounds – 1. Strawberry Mick; 2. Silver Dream; 3. Silver Streak; 4. Busy Again; 5. Miterdale Duchess; 6. Foxparke Mysteriously. 11 ran, time 30.16.
- Pups – 1. Rodney Raider; 2. Glamorous Ava; 3. Artist; 4. Foxparke Fair Lady; 5. Foxparke Side Kick; 6. Mel. 14 ran, time 15.53.
- Open Restricted – 1. Dream Catcher; 2. Thorn Pop; 3. Foxparke Honk Honk; 4. Milo Moon; 5. Black Eyed Mist; 6. Tommy’s Dream. 17 ran, time 16.09.
