Saturday was show day with trails taking place both at the Benty Show and the Lowick Show.
Lowick Show has been taking place for over 150 years and it is where the communities along and around the Crake Valley have celebrated annually.
The show hosted four trails over the afternoon and for a change the weather was great with not a rain cloud in sight.
The seniors were first to slip and they were running for the Alf Thompson memorial Cup.
Huntsman’s Rebel was running with connections looking to see if she could extend her lead at the top of the championship table.
Her main competition would come from Miterdale Honesty and previously Huntsman’s Rebel had managed to get the better of ‘Peggy’ each time they have ran.
Out on the trail crossing the fell road it was Miterdale Honesty that seemed to have the upper hand. However as they came o to the finish it was Huntsman’s Rebel who was in front by a good distance. All she had to do was carry on running and cross the line.
But Peggy wasn’t having any of it, she is such a good little finisher and as the line approached she had caught up and just crossed the line to win by a short head as Huntsman’s Rebel started to slow down.
It was also Peggy’s first win so she also won the David Howson trophy for the first maiden home much to the delight of the Steele family. In third place was the Steeles other hound Kinniside Bobby.
The open pups were next with five runners. Having just had hard luck with Huntsman’s Rebel Denise and her team were looking to make amends with Huntsman’s Time, but her competition would come from the strong Miterdale Team again who had three runners as well as James and Ava McClelland’s Baroness Ava who had won there earlier in the week.
Out on the trail it was Huntsman’s Time and Baroness Ava who had a slight lead over the three Miterdale hounds. As they came onto the finish it was Miterdale Rumble who showed in front but Baroness Ava was catching and finished better of the two hounds to cross the line in first place.
The win was her sixth and as the season has progressed she has improved greatly over recent weeks. Miterdale Rumble ended up with second followed by kennel mate Miterdale Rambler. Huntsman’s Time had dropped back to fourth with Miterdale Ruler taking fifth place.
The open restricted race was next with five runners again. Outside it was Black Eyed Shadow who was heading up the race followed by Green Queen and then Kirkhead Rebe.
However once on the finish it was Kirkhead Rebel who came through to take the win for Sophie Steele and Roy Laidler with Black Eyed Shadow finishing in second place for the Lyon family.
Green Queen was third with Luckie Lottie finishing in fourth for Geoff and Gillian Higgins and Lucky Moon in fifth for Tony Jackson and Ian Rudd.
The win for Kirkhead Rebel moves him up to third in the open restricted points competition twelve points behind the current leader Malia who has 56 points.
The last race at Lowick was for the veterans and Miterdale Duchess was the odds on favourite. It wasn’t a surprise when they showed on the finish and she came on to win comfortably from Zola who ran on well to get second place.
Ian bell’s Howgil Lil finished in third place with Glenis, and Raymond Farren’s Jenny’s Oracle in fourth. Kinniside Jacko, for Tony Jackson and Ian Rudd finished in fifth place with Denis and Jackie’s other hound Hawkswood in sixth.
The Benty Show is a small agricultural show in the Scottish Borders near Langholm in a village called Bentpath, Westerkirk and it also hosted four trails.
Benty Show is slightly unusual as the finish involves the hounds having to cross what is technically a river which can prove quite tricky for many hounds.
The senior race was first to get going with a slip of five hounds. As the hounds came back onto the finish it was Summer Spirit who managed to navigate the river first and who came in clear of the others to win.
There was a good race for second between Summer Spirit’s kennel mate Sportsman and Border Reign. In the end it was Sportsman who just got up to take second and make it a one-two for the Mark’s family. Annabell Connolly’s hound Border Reign finished in third place ahead of Eden Romina and they were the only finishers.
Next up were the open pups with only two runners and Snowfell, for Caroline Clough and Barry Laidler, was the only one to finish, having won the same race as his dad Winterfell the year before.
The win for Snowfell takes him to ten wins joint third place in the puppy championship with Countess Ava.
The open maidens were next with a slip of twelve runners but a combination of the sudden warm weather and the river to cross resulted in only one hound completing the course.
It was Imagine for Joy and Brian Lister who came up the hill looking a bit goosed but he completed the trail.
The last race of the day was the open restricted race with only seven runners and again those hounds completing the course were few and far between with only two hounds managing to do it. Mr Finnigan for Sandra Mordue finished first, followed by Fire Lady for the Telfords from Carlisle.
Numbers were down for the two shows, probably as a result of the busy week and the Memorial trails planned for today in memory of Dickie Smithson.
The first trail gets underway at 1.00pm at Sandale which was one of Dickie’s favourite venues. All proceeds from the trails will go towards a local charity chosen by his family.
September 7 – Benty Show
Hounds – 1. Summer Spirit; 2. Sportsman; 3. Border Reign; 4. Eden Rayna. 5 ran, only four finished. Time 39.27.
Pups – 1. Snowfell. 2 ran, only one finished. Time 22.39.
Open Maiden – 1. Imagine. 12 ran, only one finished. Time 26.21.
Open Restricted – 1. Mr Finnigan 2. Fire Lady. 7 ran, only two finished. Time 29.30.
Lowick Show
Hounds – 1. Miterdale Honesty; 2. Huntsman’s Rebel; 3. Kinniside Bobby. 3 ra, time 30.00.
Pups – 1. Baroness Ava; 2. Miterdale Rumble; 3. Miterdale Rambler; 4. Huntsman’s Time; 5. Miterdale Ruler. 5 ran, time 20.15.
Open Restricted – 1. Kirkhead Rebel; 2. Black Eyed Shadow; 3. Green Queen; 4. Luckie Lottie; 5. Lucky Moon. 5 ran, time 21.33.
Veterans – 1. Miterdale Duchess; 2. Zola; 3. Howgill Lil; 4. Jenny Oracle; 5. Kinniside Jacko; 6. Hawkswood. 8 ran, time 21.30.
