Redmain staged the annual Farrel Gorley Memorial Trails yesterday, always a popular event in the sports calendar.
They were originally set up by the late Les Gorley in memory of his father Farrel, who had both been avid supporters and hound owners. Les was probably better known to thousands playing rugby league for Workington Town and Widnes.
The ground conditions were perfect for the hounds following heavy rain in the morning but as the afternoon got out it did warm up to make a pleasant afternoon’s trailing.
There was a good crowd and it was the seniors who were first up but only a small slip of six runners.
As we move into August and September. and the number of trail venues increase, the number of hounds competing at each will drop but despite the small field there were some good hounds competing.
Winterfell was resting after his win on Thursday at Ambleside Sports and Rodney Raider is still off hoping to be back soon.
With the top of the senior championship table unchanged for a while it will be interesting to see if any of the other hounds can finally take advantage of Rodney Raider’s absence. There was some signs of change following Winterfell’s win on Thursday but there isn’t much else challenging at the moment.
At the half way mark it was Silver Dream and Mel who were heading up the race as they headed down towards Bridekirk. They had developed a lead from the third and fourth hound Silver Streak and Lady Million with Money Talks in fifth and Samcro, who has just stepped up to the long race, some way behind.
As the hounds came back into view on the finish the first four had bunched up with Silver Streak now in second place. As they cleared the last fence it was a good race between Silver Dream and Silver Streak with Silver Dream just coming away in the last few yards to make it a one, two for the Dearham kennel of Joe Abram and Nicola McMaster.
The win for Silver Dream for Darren and Julie McMaster takes her to six wins and equals that of Winterfell, both now in joint second place in the championship. This might be a sign of a new challenger to both Winterfell and for Rodney Raider if his absence continues.
Mel ran on to finish in third place for Les Reid and Ellie Napier with Lady Million for Joy and Brian Lister finishing in fourth place. Money Talks for Graham Reid wasn’t too far behind in fifth place with Samcro eventually finishing in sixth place having ran a reasonably good race for his first long race of the season.
Next to run were the open pups with a slip of thirteen and Thornton was the odds on favourite with the bookies as there was no Huntsman’s Time, with the table leader being rested after her run on Thursday at Ambleside Sports. Fields and dykes are probably not her thing anyway.
Competition for Thornton was most likely expected to come from the Thorn kennel with two runners in the race, especially as Thorn Soul has proven that she can run this kind of terrain, having won round the Bridekirk trail.
As they went through the bottoms it was as expected Thornton leading with Thorn Soul in a close second place. The other hounds were starting to get strung out at this point but as they showed on the finish it was Thornton and Minnie Million who were leading.
As they came to the last fence Thornton cleared it but Minnie Million made a slight mistake which cost her a little ground. Then as they raced up the finish Thornton was never headed and won the race by a good few yards for Darren McMaster, Anthony Skelton and Sadie Wilson, with Minnie Million finishing well in second place for Brian and Joy Lister. She hadn’t been able to make-up any ground from the mistake she had made at the last fence.
The Thorn kennel finished third and fourth with Thorn Heart for Colin Satterthwaite and Thorn Soul for Martin, Joanna, Molly and Teddy Burrow’s.
Flecky Jack for the Hetherington’s finished well in fifth to take his second puppy championship ticket with Blue Striker for Erin and Brian Rowlandson coming in sixth.
The Open Non-winners were slipped next with a field of fifteen. As they showed on the finish there were a number of hounds in with a chance but it was Alan Blacklock’s Busy Lad who came through to win from Stephen Irving and Caroline Graham’s Zeta with only a couple of yards in it.
Sophie Steele’s Miterdale Rumble finished in third place with Tony, Marlene, Connor and Carter’s Leo The Lightening Bolt in fourth. Miterdale Ruler, for Sophie. finished in fifth with Thorn Star for Martin, Joanna, Molly and Teddy Burrow’s taking the final ticket.
The last race of the day was for the open restricted with a good slip of 20 runners. Croft Lass and Kinniside Bobby were top of the bookies board and as they went through the punters were all favouring Kinniside Bobby as the hound that was the leader headed for Bridekirk.
Once on the finish it was a great race between Cracking Last One Two and Croft Lass. Cracking Last One Two has been off for a long while and is just coming back to racing.
Both battled each other up the finishing and it was very close on the line. The judge referred to the camera and gave the verdict to Cracking Last One Two by a very short nose. Bill and Pat Mellon were delighted with how the little hound had performed and pleased that she is coming back into form again after being off for so long.
Croft Lass had to make do with second place for Stanley and Carole Jackson. Sophie Steele and Co’s Kinniside Bobby stayed on well to get third place with Tania Satterthwaite taking fourth with Swamp Fox.
Lisa and Holly Whitfield were pleased with their little hound Audacity who claimed fifth ticket with Kirkhead Rebel taking the last ticket of the day for Sophie and Roy Laidler.
This coming week is very busy. Kirkland Leaps is on Monday night with the first trail starting at 6.30pm, followed on Tuesday by a trip north of Carlisle to Gilsland with the first trail 6pm.
On Wednesday there’s a return to Cold Fell with their first trail at 6.00pm followed on Thursday by the first of a series of trails to be held at Calebreak, with their first trail starting at 6pm.
July 27 – Redmain
- Hounds – 1. Silver Dream; 2. Silver Streak; 3. Me;l 4. Lady Million; 5. Money Talks; 6. Samcro. 6 ran, time 27.39.
- Pups – 1. Thornton; 2. Minnie Million; 3. Thorn Heart; 4, Thorn Soul; 5. Flecky Jack; 6. Blue Striker. 13 ran, time 19.34.
- Open Non-Winners – 1. Busy Lad; 2. Zeta; 3. Miterdale Rumble; 4. Leo The Lightening Bolt; 5. Miterdale Ruler; 6. Thorn Star. 15 ran, time 20.54.
- Open Restricted – 1. Cracking Last One Two; 2. Croft Lass; 3. Kinniside Bobby; 4. Swamp Fox; 5. Audacity; 6. Kirkhead Rebel. 20 ran, time 19.22.
