After the excitement of the weekend in the Festival of Hound Trailing at Kirkland Leaps action moved back to Latrigg for the third in the series of trails to be held there.
It was a fine night, although there had been plenty of rain in the afternoon and conditions were good for the hounds compared to previous nights where it had been a tad warm for the dogs running.
The senior hounds got things off to a start with just five runners but the quality was good and it would provide an interesting race for the spectators who were there.
Huntsman’s Rebel, at 4/5, was the odds-on favourite with Glamorous Ava, Cautious and Mel being 6/4.
As they came back into sight there were four hounds running together with Huntsman’s Rebel having a slight lead over Cautious, Mel and Glamorous Ava. Malia, who was the fifth entry, was some way behind at this stage.
As they went out of sight and dropped down the back of the fell it was Huntsman’s Rebel who was still leading.
The hounds came back into sight as they climbed up the far fell before dropping down into the bottoms and it was Cautious and Glamourous Ava who seemed to be heading them with Huntsman’s Rebel and Mel close behind.
As the hounds showed on the finish it was Cautious who came into sight first and who had established a 200-yard lead for Isla Hetherington and Stephen Riley.
Cautious came on and won nicely for her third win of the season and moved her up to joint third place in the championship table.
Glamorous Ava finished well in second place for James and Ava McClelland with Huntsman’s Rebel for Denise Bland and Co not too far behind. Mel finished in fourth place for Les Reid and Ellie Napier.
A little way behind was Malia for Christine Brownlee who once on the finish came in strongly and was clearly happy to see Christine as she was wagging her tail.
Next to slip were the pups with a 100% increase in the number of hounds running as there were 10 compared to the one hound who went round on her own at the last Latrigg meeting.
That was Huntsman’s Time, the Championship leader, but didn’t go for a repeat as she was taking a well-earned rest.
Nevertheless, there was a good class of runners with Thorn Soul, who had won the first race at Latrigg and Countess Ava who had been second.
Consequently Thorn Soul was the favourite with the bookies and Countess Ava was 7/4 with the rest of the field 5/1 bar.
As they dropped off the fell in to the bottoms the two favourites were leading the race with Huntsman’s Trouble close behind.
As they came onto the finish it was Countess Ava who showed first and came on to win nicely from Thorn Soul for Martin, Molly and Teddy Burrows and Sarah Jackson.
Huntsman’s Trouble took third place in what was a tight finish after just running wide slightly before coming back towards the line.
Baroness Ava claimed fourth place for James and Ava McLelland, with Foxparke Elliot’s Lass landing the fifth ticket for the Napier and Butler kennel, with Denise and Co’s other hound Huntsman’s Trust claiming the sixth ticket.
The win for Countess Ava takes her up to seven wins now and she will have her eye firmly fixed on the Bitch Produce race at the week-end.
Next up were the open maidens with a slip of 15 hounds.
Betting was fairly open with Charisma and Persian Gold at the top of the bookies board.
As they dropped off the far fell it was Charisma and what the punters thought was Persian Gold leading the race.
When they came back onto the finish it was Charisma for Carole and Stanley Jackson who has established a good lead and came in well to take the win.
Not far behind there was a good race for second between three hounds who crossed the line together.
The judge had to refer to the camera and gave second place to Foxparke Elliot’s Lad for Robyn, Ellie Grace Napier and Brooke Butler followed by Lucky Moon for Tony Jackson and Ian Rudd in close third place and then Foxparke Danny Elliot in fourth place with only a short head between each hound.
Lucky Lottie for Geoff Higgins was in fifth place with the Foxparke team taking the last ticket with Foxparke Joey Elliot.
The last race of the night was for the veterans with the favourite Adele looking to extend her winning ways after the weekend.
Miterdale Duchess was also running to see if she could notch up more points and maintain her lead in the veteran points competition.
Adele was the favourite and as they dropped off the far fell there was speculation from the punters that it was the Kinniside team who were heading up the race.
Reports coming in were that Adele was only in third place with Monsoon in fourth.
As they showed on the finish it was Adele for the Bell family who was in front and who had a couple of lengths on Miterdale Duchess who finished in second place.
Monsoon came in third for Christine Brownlee with Jenny’s Oracle claiming fourth place. The Kinniside team got fifth with Jacko and sixth with Dan.
All in all it was a good nights trailing with a good atmosphere.
Miterdale Duchess, with her five points, still remains top of the veteran points competition and Adele stays second with her win so things are tight at the top and it looks as though the veterans points competition will be an exciting one as the season progresses.
Action moves north of Carlisle tonight with a four-race card at Moss Peteral with the first race starting at 6pm. Then action moves to Redmain on Wednesday night with another four-race card.
July 8 – Latrigg
- Hounds – 1. Cautious; 2. Glamorous Ava; 3. Huntsman’s Rebel; 4. Mel; 5. Malia; 5 ran, time 29.53.
- Pups – 1. Countess Ava; 2. Thorn Soul; 3. Huntsman’s Trouble; 4. Baroness Ava; 5. Foxparke Elliot’s Lass; 6. Huntsman’s Trust. 10 ran, time 18.49.
- Open Maiden – 1. Charisma; 2. Foxparke Elliot’s Lad; 3. Lucky Moon; 4. Foxparke Danny Elliot; 5. Lucky Lottie; 6. Foxparke Joey Elliot. 15 ran, time 17.33.
- Veteran – 1. Adele; 2. Miterdale Duchess; 3. Monsoon; 4. Jenny’s Oracle; 5. Kinniside Jacko; 6. Kinniside Dan. 11 ran, time 17.42.
