After the horrendous weather across the country Millstone Moor seemed to have escaped the rain for Saturday’s HTA meeting.
It was a pleasant afternoon with spectacular views out across the fells and there was a nice crowd for the four- card meeting.
The number of runners were down but not unexpected given that it is the last week of the 2023 season with many dogs now being laid off.
The seniors got things underway with a slip of nine but the quality was there as Silver Streak was sent out as favourite and up against her were the in-form Lady Million and Cracking Last One Two who has a good track record around Millstone Moor.
Outside it was Silver Streak and Lady Million who were driving on, with running conditions good and they were making fast work of the course.
As they showed on the long climb back up to the top of Millstone Moor it was Silver Streak and Lady Million with a lead.
As they cleared the last gate Lady Million stumbled but she battled on with Silver Streak up the hill.
I was neck and neck all the way but just a few yards from the line Silver Streak just stretched out that little bit more to take the win with both hounds running a cracking race.
Silver Streak had been 3/1 with the bookies and leading the next four hounds to finish was Cracking Last One Two who held on to take third place for Bill Mellon and co, with Alan O’Fee’s Barncroft Express finishing well in fourth place.
They were followed by Foxparke Beep Beep in fifth with Foxparke Mysteriously taking the last ticket.
Next into action were the senior maidens with a slip of 10 hounds. With only a few points between the top five hounds, the final points competition for this grade is still very active.
Running to see if they could gain points were Eden Romina, who was sitting in second place and Meadow Maggie who was fifth.
Foxparke Whoosh, who was sitting at the top, was now out of the competition and couldn’t do any more so with another two maiden trails left it would be more than likely that she would be moved down from top position.
As the hounds showed in the bottom Red Baaeed was running another cracking race but there were a number of other dogs with him.
As they jumped the last gate there were four dogs abreast as they came up the climb to the line and it was a great race to watch as all the hounds dug deep to keep going up the hill.
As they approached the line Meadow Maggie for Paul Airey and Joanne Hodgson just held on to cross in first place. Eden Romina for David Clifford snatched second place from Red Baaeed for Anne and Mel Raey and Tania Satterthwaite’s Samcro finished well in fourth place.
Black Edition wasn’t far behind in fifth place for Lisa and Hollie Whitfield and Foxparke Bugga Boo took the last ticket for Ellie and Robyn Napier.
The win for Meadow Maggie moves her up in to third place in the senior maiden’s points competition and Eden Romina although she only got second place, the five points were enough to move her to the top of the table.
Next to slip were the open pups again with a relatively small field but all top quality hounds.
Silver Dream was the odds-on favourite to repeat her win from last week when she won round the same course.
Artist and Mel were looking to change that outcome as they too also ran well over the course.
As they showed in the bottoms two hounds had a slight lead – Silver Dream and Artist.
Again it was a thrilling race to watch as they battled it out but towards the top of the hill Silver Dream does what she is good at and just came away from Artist to cross the line first by a couple of lengths.
It was hard luck again for Artist. So far this year she had had 11 seconds and 11 thirds if they had all been wins she would be right up there with the table leaders. However its only wins that count.
Finishing well in third place was Mel for Les and Graham Reid with Hey Mac finishing in fourth for Neil and Gillian Brown and Derek and Joel Bulman.
The Foxparke team cleared up the remaining two tickets with Foxparke Fair Lady and Foxparke Side Kick.
The win for Silver Dream made it a double on the day for the Dearham kennel of Joe Abram and Nicola McMaster and the win takes Silver Dream into joint second place with sixteen wins the same as Embrace.
There is a good chance that Silver Dream, on her current performances, could win further races taking her clear as the runner-up in the puppy championship.
This would make it a one-two for the Dearham kennel but also the top four hounds in the Puppy championship table coming from the same litter bred from Silver Dusk and Miterdale Cooper which is some achievement.
The last race of the day was the puppy maiden race, and again the points competition is still wide open with any number of hounds in with a chance of winning.
However there were just two runners Miterdale Dust who was the current table topper and Spring Remedy.
It would be a real test for the hounds to see if they would make it round with just the two runners. At the half-way point both hounds were running well with Mitredale Dust having developed a lead over Spring Remedy.
As they showed again in the bottoms Miterdale Dust was pushing on and finished well up the hill to take the win for Sophie Steele.
The win now takes him out of the competition but with an eight point lead over his nearest rival who is also out of the competition so it looks likely that Miterdale Dust will take the Puppy Maiden points competition.
Spring Remedy, for Jenny Horn, finished a wee bit behind Miterdale Dust, but she had ran on well to finish and complete the course.
Action moves to Middle Moss today with another four-card meeting with the first slip at 1pm.
October 21 – Millstone Moor
- Hounds – 1. Sliver Streak; 2. Lady Million; 3. Cracking Last One Two; 4. Barncroft Express; 5. Foxparke Beep Beep; 6. Foxparke Mysteriously. 9 ran, time 26.05.
- Maidens – 1. Meadow Maggie; 2. Eden Romina; 3. Red Baaeed; 4. Samcro; 5. Black Edition; 6. Foxparke Bugga Boo. 10 ran, time 27.10.
- Pups – 1. Silver Dream; 2. Artist; 3. Mel; 4. Hey Mac; 5. Foxparke Fair Lady; 6. Foxparke Side Kick. 7 ran, time 16.16.
- Puppy Maidens – 1. Miterdale Dust; 2. Spring Remedy. 2 ran, time18.58.
