Thursday night saw the first of four trails to be held at Lowther Park, with the weather being more favourable than of late.
The ground drying up made it good running for the hounds and much more pleasant for the hound owners and spectators.
With running options limited over the recent and coming weeks, there was an excellent turn out of dogs looking to fine tune things before the major HTA trails on Monday.
The senior hounds started proceedings with a good slip of 24 hounds. There was no Rodney Raider, with the owners probably playing it safe and looking to rest their 2023 puppy champion in advance of Mondays big trail.
Foxparke Beep Beep was the favourite in the bookies ring following her great win at the weekend.
Reigning champion Winterfell was running and was second favourite while Duchess Ava, who has struggled to return to winning ways after an excellent early start to the season, was also in the field.
As the trail progressed it was Winterfell, running in his usual fashion, who was heading up the trail and making the running.
As they came back onto the finish it was Winterfell who was still pushing on and who managed to maintain his lead to cross the line in first place from a fast finishing Duchess Ava who came from fifth to take second place.
The win for Barry Laidler and Caroline Clough’s Winterfell moves him up the championship table to second place with three wins, still two wins behind Rodney Raider.
It was good to see a former puppy champion Huntsman’s Rebel, for Denise Bland and Jim and Alan Little, back running and she claimed third ticket, but perhaps just short of a little running.
Mel finished well in fourth place for Graham Reid with Isla Hetherington and Stephen Riley’s kennel finishing in fifth and sixth with Cautious and Ruby.
There was a great slip of pups, 37 in total, which had the potential for a great race.
Table leader Huntsman’s Time was back out running and was taking on local hound Countess Ava. The in-form Blue Striker for Brian and Erin Rowlandson was also running.
However soon after they slipped they got wrong on the trail and this allowed Huntsman’s Time and Countess Ava to steal a lead and they were able to maintain this lead for the rest of the trail.
As they came onto the finish both hounds were still together but Huntsman’s Time for Denise and Jenny Bland, Graeme Little and Lisa Crosby just managed to edge forward and cross the line in front of James and Ava McClelland’s Countess Ava.
As the other hounds came onto the finish they had closed the gap somewhat but were still out-raced and out-paced by the front two hounds.
Zeta for Stephen Irving and Caroline Graham and Huntsman’s Trouble for Denise and Jenny Bland and Graeme Little who were racing neck and neck crossed the line together. It was a difficult decision but the judge gave it as a tie not being able to split the hounds.
Brian and Erin Rowlandson’s Blue Striker was a close fifth and James and Ava’s other hound Baroness Ava took the sixth ticket. Huntsman’s Time was 6/4 in the bookies ring and the little hound extends her lead further in the puppy championship now sitting at six wins, three in front of Countess Ava.
The hounds just kept coming for the next race with a great entry of 52 in the open maidens race.
As they came back onto the run-in it was promising to be a great finish until the leading hound Eden Romina decided to turn round just before she got to the line allowing the second hound Young Harry to come through and cross the line in first place.
He was followed by Glenis and Raymond Farren’s Huntsman’s Rally in second place and then Eden Romina decided to finish and cross the line in third place for David Clifford.
David was none too pleased with his hound taking a rest just before the line but that’s hound trailing! Brian Graham’s other hound Rebok finished in fourth place with Neil and Gillian Brown, Derek and Joel Bulman’s Dundee finishing in fifth. Sophie Steele and co’s Miterdale Dainty took the last ticket.
Young Harry had been 6/1 in the bookies ring, not having been fancied as it hadn’t been seen out running in a championship trail for a while.
The last race of the night was the All-In with a really good slip of 32 hounds and it was Laura Steele and Andrew Bulman’s Embrace who crossed the line in first place.
It was nice to see the hound back out and running after a short spell off with an injury. Colin Satterthwaite’s Thorn Pop was second and sixth with the Foxparke Kennel taking third, fourth and fifth ticket.
Action returns to Lowther Park on Saturday afternoon with five races across the card and the action starts at 1pm.
Then all eyes move to Bank Holiday Monday for the first of the HTA Premier Trails which will take place at Helton, near Penrith.
Both Winterfell and Rodney Raider have won there in previous senior trails so it will be interesting to see who gets the upper hand this time.
May 2 – Lowther Park
- Hounds – 1. Winterfell; 2. Duchess Ava; 3. Huntsman’s Rebel; 4. Mel; 5. Cautious; 6. Ruby. 24 ran, time 34.09.
- Pups – 1. Huntsman’s Time; 2. Countess Ava; 3. Zeta and Huntsman’s Trouble (dead heat) 5. Blue Striker; 6. Baroness Ava. 37 ran, time 19.13.
- Open Maiden – 1. Young Harry; 2. Huntsman’s Rally; 3. Eden Romina; 4. Rebok; 5. Dundee; 6. Miterdale Dainty. 52 ran, time 18.03.
- All-In – 1. Embrace; 2. Thorn Pop; 3. Foxparke Fair Lady; 4. Foxparke Side Kick; 5. Foxparke Dealer; 6. Thorn Gift 32 ran, time 17.40.
