Wednesday saw the annual Ennerdale Show take place with the weather improving as the week progressed.
As a result the show was able to carry on although it was still fairly wet as the hound trails started.
The show hosted four races starting with the senior hounds when there was a slip of 12 hounds, with Mel the favourite as she has a decent record round the course.
At previous trails there she has had a win and a few places and as they crossed the first road she was leading the race with Embrace in second place.
Embrace is just returning from injury after being off for a number of weeks and he looked to be back to his old self running well in second place.
As they came back onto the finish Mel had maintained her lead for Les Reid and Ellie Napier. As Ellie shouted her in she had a good 20-yard lead and won easily for her sixth win of the season.
Embrace, for Laura Steele, Andrew and Joel Bulman and Ian Rumney stayed on well and finished in second place, with the team really pleased with his performance after being off for so long.
Alan Blacklock’s Busy Again ticketed in third place, with Croft Lass again among the tickets in fourth for Carole and Stanley Jackson.
The much-improved Strawberry Mick finished in fifth for Graham Reid with Stephen Riley and Isla Hetherington’s Cautious taking the final ticket.
Next to run were the open pups with a field of 17 but without table leader Huntsman’s Time who will most likely go to Lowick tonight.
Thornton wasn’t running either so the local hounds of Countess and Baroness Ava and Apache Chief were fancied to make up ground in their absence.
Out on the trail it was Countess Ava who was heading up the race followed by Huntsman’s Trust for Ruth and Daniel Graham.
As they came back onto the finish there was a group of five to six hounds all in with a chance with Huntsman’s Trouble leading.
However, as they approached the finishing line he ran wide and tripped over in the reeds to let Huntsman’s Trust through to win followed by Debbie and Lana McGee’s Apache Chief in second.
Baroness Ava for James and Ava McClelland finished in third place with their other hound Countess Ava in fifth. Huntsman’s Trouble for Denise and Co had picked himself up and managed to get fourth after his tumble with the last ticket going to Erin and Brian Rawlandson’s Blue Striker.
The win for Huntsman’s Trust is her first open puppy race win of the season and she is certainly enjoying racing at the moment and remains on holiday from Denise with Ruth and Graham, who are doing a great job with her.
The open maidens were next with another good slip of 27 and as they crossed the road out on the trail it was Neil and Gillian Brown and Derrick Bulman’s Hey Mac who was leading. followed closely by Zola for Stephen Irving.
Once back on the finish there were plenty of hounds but it was the good looking Hey Mac who was still in front and won by a couple of yards much to the delight of Gillian who was over the moon with the win.
Inspect, for the Lindsay sisters Anna and Kerry, finished in second place with the ever consistent Eden Romina in third to extend her lead even further in the open maiden points competition. At this rate nothing is going to catch her.
Lucky Moon finished in fourth place and is Eden Romina’s closest rival in the points competition but she is thirty six points behind.
It must have been Gillian’s lucky day as her other hound Peggy Sue finished in fifth place with the Foxparke team claiming sixth place with Foxparke Dealer.
The last trail of the day was for the open restricted with 13 runners and the Foxparke team had a strong hand of runners.
Out on the trail it was their hound Foxparke Honk Honk, who was leading the race and who seems to be in good form at the moment.
As they returned to the finish and headed towards the line Foxparke Honk Honk still had a narrow lead and was being chased down by kennel mate Foxparke Side Kick and Cracking Last One Two.
However ‘Squeak’, which is her kennel name, hung on to cross the line in first place much to the delight of her main handler Grace Napier.
It was close for second but Foxparke Side Kick was given the verdict from Bill and Pat Mellon and Robert and Tina Airey’s Cracking Last One Two.
The Foxparke team bagged another ticket with Foxparke Fair Lady in fourth place with Lily running another great race for Barbara and Geoff Jones in fifth.
Carol and Stanley Jackson took the last ticket with Clementine, winner from Grasmere Sports at the week-end.
Foxparke Honk Honk is a tough little hound as she was quite poorly when she was a pup with only a 20 per cent chance of surviving but since then she has come on leaps and bounds winning three races as a pup last year and then this year she won at the Whitehaven Classic, Rusland Show and then her win at Ennerdale Show.
Good lass Squeak, it just shows how tough these little dogs are, and they are true athletes.
Action moves to the first in a series of trails at Lowick tonight with the first of three races kicking off at 6pm.
August 28 – Ennerdale Show
- Seniors – 1. Mel; 2. Embrace; 3. Busy Again; 4. Croft Lass; 5. Strawberry Mick; 6. Cautious. 12 ran, time 28.01.
- Pups – 1. Huntsman’s Trust; 2. Apache Chief; 3. Baroness Ava; 4. Huntsman’s Trouble; 5. Countess Ava; 6.Blue Striker. 17 ran, time 19.52.
- Open Maidens – 1. Hey Mac; 2. Inspect; 3. Eden Romina; 4. Lucky Moon; 5. Peggy Sue; 6. Foxparke Dealer. 27 ran, time 19.49.
- Open Restricted – 1. Foxparke Honk Honk; 2. Foxparke Side Kick; 3. Cracking Last One Two; 4. Foxparke Fair Lady; 5. Lily; 6. Clementine. 13 ran, time 19.35.
