Friday night saw a return to Cock How for a four race meeting and the seniors were slipped first with a smaller than usual field of eight runners.
That was probably a reflection of the number of trails over the week and with a busy weekend approaching.
Cautious and Mel were the favourites to run well on a warm night and when the hounds showed on the finish they were strung out with Mel having lead for the bulk of the trail. She finished well and claimed her eighth win of the season.
She’s another one to watch as she is chipping away at the leading top three hounds in the championship. Well done to Les Reid and Ellie Napier.
Second home was Huntsman’s Quartz for Ian Donaldson, with Ron for Tom and Ryan Bell finishing in third place.
Cautious, who ran well early on in the season, finished in fourth a bit off the pace with Chapel Stile for Ian Fleet and Jayne Pettersen finishing in fifth place. The last ticket was claimed by Julie Birkenshaw’s Bretton.
The open pups were next with only four runners. Thorn Soul and Blue Striker were both at odds on and as they showed on the run-in they were both making hard work of it but they eventually cleared the gates and came in with Thorn Soul finishing well to win comfortably for the Burrow’s family and Sarah Jackson.
Blue Striker, for Erin and Brian Rowlandson, finished in second and eventually the other two pups did finish with Lucky Legend claiming third and Delta Scroll taking the fourth ticket.
The Open maidens were next to run with a strong contingent of Foxparke hounds running and as they showed on the finish the first four were all Foxparkes.
Eventually it was Foxparke Mysteriously who got up to win from Foxparke Majesty in second with Foxparke Joey Elliot in third and Foxparke Bugga Boo in fourth place.
Hey Mac, for Neil and Gillian Brown, finished in fifth place with the little Off-Spring taking sixth.
The evening was drawing in when the veterans were slipped with a field of nine runners and the top three in the points table were competing.
However, when they showed on the finish it was Denis Pear and Jackie Gill’s Miterdale Duchess who got the better of her rivals and won nicely from Stephen Irving’s Zola in second place and then Sarah Bell’s Adele in third place.
Points gained from the night’s race resulted in Adele and Miterdale Duchess now with equal points in the veterans points competition both with sixty points with Zola some way behind with thirty nine points.
September 6 – Cock How
Hounds – 1. Mel; 2. Huntsman’s Quartz; 3. Ron; 4. Cautious; 5. Chapel Stile; 6. Bretton. 8 ran, time 33.50.
Pups – 1. Thorn Soul; 2. Blue Striker; 3. Lucky Legend; 4. Delta Scroll. 4 ran, time 28.01.
Open Maiden – 1. Foxparke Mysteriously; 2. Foxparke Majesty; 3. Foxparke Joey Elliot; 4. Foxparke Bugga Boo; 5. Hey Mac; 6. Off-Spring. 11 ran, time 24.28.
Veteran – 1. Miterdale Duchess; 2. Zola; 3. Adele; 4. Foxparke Mo Farren; 5. Foxparke Jiggly Puff; 6. Foxparke Parma Violet. 9 ran, time 25.09.
