The trails were good at Uldale given it’s a new venue so credit to those who promoted the trails and the hounds for running the course so well.
It was the pre-run around the new trail in advance of the last of the major HTA trails of the 2023 season which takes place there on Saturday. The senior hounds will be running for the prestigious Golden Tankard.
It was the senior hounds who got things under way with an excellent slip of 35 hounds with most people wanting to let their hounds have a look round in advance of the trail on Saturday.
At the half way point it was Foxparke Beep Beep and Winterfell who were leading the hounds round the course and running well. However as they came back into sight and climbed up to the finish it was Winterfell and Lady Million who were the two dogs in front.
Lady Million, for Brian and Joy Lister, was unlucky as she ran sideways and just let Winterfell get in front of her almost on the line.
The win for Winterfell takes him to 22 points, seven clear now from Denis Pear and Jackie Gill’s Miterdale Duchess and looking like he will take the Championship title.
Huntsman’s Quartz ran a great race to finish in third place for Ian Donaldson with Alan Blacklock’s Busy Again finishing in fourth. Neil and Gillian Brown’s Dundee ran well to finish fifth with Willie and Daphne Mark’s Summer Spirit finishing in sixth place.
For a relatively new trail the hounds ran it well in what was a decent time of just over 30 minutes. Foxparke Beep Beep finished just outside of the ticketing hounds.
The open pups were next with the majority of the pups for this season taking part, 22 in total so it was another good turn-out.
When they showed it was a good race with the majority of the dogs in sight as they came up the hill.
As they approached the line it was a good race but as usual Rodney Raider pushed ahead and crossed the line in first place.
Huntsman’s Sparkle decided she didn’t like the crowds and ran to the left so Hey Mac came through from third to take second place for Neil and Gillian Brown. Les and Graham Reid bagged two tickets with Mel finishing in third place and Money Talks finishing fifth.
The Foxparke kennel just sneaked in to claim sixth ticket and Huntsman’s Sparkle didn’t get among the tickets which is a shame as she has speed to burn. If only she would cross the finishing line.
Last to race on the night were the open restricted hounds with a slip of 26 again and it was a good finish with the majority of the hounds showing on the finish at the same time.
However it was Chapel Stile who finished well for Ian Fleet and Jayne Petersen to beat Thorn Gift who was second for Colin Satterthwaite.
Ron, owned by Tom, Sarah and Ryan Bell, finished third with Spring Remedy taking fourth for Jenny Horn.
Light Up took the fifth ticket for Christopher Henderson and Malia claimed the last ticket of the night for sixth place.
The Open Restricted were slightly slower than the pups but all the hounds on the night had ran the trails well and it bodes well for the trails on Saturday if they can perform in a similar fashion.
- The trails at Carret Rigg today were cancelled because of adverse weather conditions.
Uldale – October 3
- Hounds – 1. Winterfell; 2. Lady Million; 3. Huntsman’s Quartz; 4. Busy Again; 5. Dundee; 6. Summer Spirit. 35 ran, time 30.17.
- Pups 1. Rodney Raider; 2. Hey Mac; 3. Mel; 4. Silver Dream; 5. Money Talks; 6. Foxparke Honk Honk. 22 ran, time 20.37.
- Open Restricted – 1. Chapel Stile; 2. Thorn Gift; 3. Ron; 4. Spring Remedy; 5. Light Up; 6. Malia. 26 ran, time 22.03.
