The second of the Bridekirk trails on Saturday saw a good turnout of supporters and of hounds as everyone enjoyed the sunny afternoon.
The senior hounds got things underway with a class field of the top hounds, although champion Winterfell was absent resting again following his run midweek at Potter’s Park.
However the entry offered a competitive race with the Dearham kennel of Nicola McMaster and Joseph Abram strongly represented with four contenders in the form of current championship leader Rodney Raider as well as Silver Dream, Silver Streak and Sarah Jane.
The Cockermouth brothers Les and Graham Reid had Mel and Money Talk’s running who are never far away while there were two lively Wigton contenders in Busy Again and Thorn Gift.
As the hounds showed at roughly half-way it looked like the Dearham team were heading up the race with Sarah Jane and Silver Dream leading. At this stage Rodney Raider was not too far behind in about fourth place but the hounds were cracking on and it was a good race.
The hounds then travel up towards the Millstone Moor trail field before turning to come back towards Bridekirk. It’s an uphill climb which can often catch a few hounds out before they turn to come back on the long run into the finish at Bridekirk.
As the hounds came back into view there were a number of hounds together with many punters thinking that the white dog that was prominent was Silver Steak.
However as they came closer to the finish it was clear that it wasn’t but in fact was the Wigton hound of Colin Satterthwaite’s, Thorn Gift, one of last year’s puppies.
The little bitch had a good turn of foot on the finish and came in strongly to win from the Cockermouth pair of Mel and Money Talks for the Reid brothers.
Slightly disappointing were associates of the Dearham kennel as usually they all have a good record round the Bridekirk course, especially Silver Streak who could only manage fourth place with kennel mates Rodney Raider and Sarah Jane finishing in fifth and sixth place.
Rodney Raider had been 4/5 on in the bookies ring but anyone having a punt on Thorn Gift would be well pleased as she had been 8/1.
As the afternoon continued to warm up the pups were next to slip with a field of 36 runners with Huntsman’s Time being the odds on favourite in the bookies ring. In her previous run she had finished second to Countess Ava.
As the hounds were slipped and ran through the bottoms it was a good race with the majority of the hounds still in contention at this early stage.
As with the senior hounds they then had to make the climb up to the top of Millstone Moor before turning for home. Once they showed there were more strung out with a small group of hounds still in contention.
Huntsman’s Time was there up front but was being caught by the rest of the hounds. As they came to the line it was the in-form Wigton kennel who took the spoils with Thorn Soul coming on to beat Huntsman’s Time by a length for Martin, Molly, Teddy Burrow and Sarah Jackson.
Huntsman’s Time stayed on well for second place for Denise and Jenny Bland, Graeme Little and Lisa Crosby.
James and Ava had to make do with third and fourth with Countess Ava and Baroness Ava but a much improved finishing performance for both hounds.
Sophie Steele and Co took the fifth place with her hound Miterdale Ruler with Laura Steele and Andrew Bulman and Bill Birkett taking the sixth ticket with Sonny Bill.
Huntsman’s Time had been the even money favourite with Thorn Soul at 12/1 so the afternoon was turning out to be a good one for the bookies with the favourites going down in the first two races.
There was no let up in the heat as the slight breeze dropped away and the afternoon warmed up further.
Next to slip were the open restricted hounds with a field of 25 and as with most in this grade it was an open race.
Thorn Pop was favourite at 5/2 but she likes second place so it would be interesting to see if she could stay on and earn the win or would something come from the rest of the field to take it from her.
As they showed in the distance it looked like a good race with two hounds running close together with Thorn Pop running high and dropping down to join in the race.
At one point it looked as though she was going to come on and win easily but the other two hounds were racing neck and neck. As they came to the line it was a tight finish with the judge having to refer to the camera and the decision went to Sophie Steele and Roy Laidler’s Kirkhead Rebel who just got up and won by a short head from the Yorkshire hound Ron owned by Tom and Ryan Bell, both hounds finishing really well.
Thorn Pop, who had put extra ground on for herself, finished strongly but could only take third place for Colin Satterthwaite.
The Napier and Butler kennel took fourth with Foxparke Side Kick, with Annabell Connolly’s Border Reign in fifth.
The sixth ticket was claimed by the Hetherington family with Splendid Lily.
This year there is a good cohort of veterans running and the majority of them were out to run with a good slip of eighteen hounds.
Last year’s runner-up in the Senior Championship, Miterdale Duchess was running for Denis Pear and she was evens in the bookies to win.
As the hounds showed on the long run in there were two hounds clear and it was Miterdale Duchess and Adele, who has just returned to the HTA this season having been running in the Yorkshire Association for the last couple of years.
Now owned by the Bell family she has coped well with the change over and is showing great promise. Both hounds were battling it out together as they came up the long finish.
As they came to the line there wasn’t much in it but Miterdale Duchess just got up by half a length to win from Adele.
Caroline Graham’s Hunter’s Flame finished well in third place followed closely by Ian Bell’s Howgil Lil.
Stephen Irving’s Zola was fifth with the Napier and Butler kennel finishing in sixth with Foxparke Mo Farren.
Bridekirk was the third venue for a new style competition which has been organised by Mark Bryden, resident book maker, in memory of Edward and Lena Gibson who attended trails for many years and had many a good hound in their time.
The competition is aimed at creating some extra interest and excitement amongst the dog owners and to encourage owners to run their dogs at venues where perhaps they would not have considered previously.
The competition has a number or pre-selected venues, hound owners then need to enter their hounds and they will be randomly selected against a venue alongside another hound.
All races will be on the senior trail. All the selected hounds need to do is compete in the race and beat their matching hound. Whoever finishes in front of the other hound goes through to the next round with their partnered hound going out of the competition.
The competition will run throughout the season and the final hound left will receive prize money and a trophy.
Yesterday saw Eagle Star run against Foxparke Sassy Girl, but unfortunately Foxparke Sassy Girl was unable to run so goes out of the competition.
Eagle Star just had to complete the course to go through to the next round which she did.
As the season progresses further venues will be highlighted and hounds will compete against each other. Hopefully it will give some added interest to the season as it progresses. Well done to Mark for coming up with the idea and taking the time to organise this.
There is a slight gap in events from now until Thursday when there is a return to Bridekirk with a four-race card and the first trail gets started at 6pm.
The weather forecast predicts rain so it will be cooler running and softer under foot for the hounds.
Then it’s a busy bank holiday weekend with action taking place in the Borders at Steel Rigg on the Saturday, then at Greenholme, a relatively new venue not having been used for many years and which is being reintroduced by the South Lakes Area in advance of having trails at Greenholme Show in early June.
It’s a positive step for the South Lakes Area which has had a reduced number of venues for many years. This is good news for them to have some more local trails for the members in the south to attend.
The trails on Sunday are then followed by a return to Bridekirk for Bank Holiday Monday. All details for the trails can be found online at houndtrailingassociation.com.
May 18 – Bridekirk
- Hounds – 1. Thorn Gift; 2. Mel; 3. Money Talks; 4. Silver Streak; 5. Rodney Raider; 6. Sarah Jane. 17 ran, time 28.04.
- Pups – 1. Thorn Soul; 2. Huntsman’s Time; 3. Countess Ava; 4. Baroness Ava; 5. Miterdale Ruler; 6. Sonny Bill. 36 ran, time 19.16.
- Open Restricted – 1. Kirkhead Rebel; 2. Ron; 3. Thorn Pop; 4. Foxparke Side Kick; 5. Border Reign; 6. Splendid Lily. 25 ran, time 18.20.
- Veterans – 1. Miterdale Duchess; 2. Adele; 3. Hunter’s Flame; 4. Howgil Lil; 5. Zola; 6. Foxparke Mo Farren. 18 ran, time 18.22.
