Tuesday evening saw a return to Dearham for the penultimate trail there for the 2024 season.
With the Westmorland Classic have been held the day before dogs and punters were in short supply and the seniors were slipped first with just six runners.
Table leader Silver Dream, as expected, was the 3/1 on favourite followed by Silver Streak and Busy Again at evens.
Silver Dream and Busy Again were leading the race out on the course but once back on the finish it was kennelmates Silver Dream and Silver Streak who had a slight advantage over Alan Blacklock’s Busy Again.
While Silver Dream would have extended her lead at the top of the Championship table with a win, it was Silver Streak who came away in the last few strides to win with.
Silver Dream had to make do with second place but she usually has a much better finish in her and on this occasion seemed content to let her kennel mate Silver Streak take the win.
Busy Again finished in third with a gap to the fourth hound which was Strawberry Mick for Graham Reid. Lisa and Holly Whitfield’s Audacity finished in fifth place with Alan O’Fee’s Barncroft Express in sixth.
Next to slip were the open pups as the rain kept coming down so it was a cold and damp start for them.
With just eight runners Minnie Million and Thornton were joint favourites with the bookies and as they crossed the last road outside it was Thornton that was leading followed by Huntsman’s Trouble and Millie’s Lass. Minnie Million was there in a close fourth place.
Once onto the finish though it was Minnie Million for Joy and Brian Lister who cleared the last fence well and she came away from the others with a couple of them making a mistake.
Minnie Million finished well to take her 12th win of the season and is now equal third in the championship table with Snowfell and Countess Ava, just two points behind Thornton in second place with 15 points.
Long-time leader Huntsman’s Time is still out in front with 19 wins.
Thornton corrected himself after making a mistake at the last fence and finished well to take second place with Huntsman’s Trouble in third place for Denise Bland and co.
Millie’s Lass finished not too far behind in fourth for George McGimpsey and Gillian and Millie Telford with Paul Airey and Joanne Hodgson’s Meadow Lane in fifth and Lucky Breeze for Lisa and Holly Whitfield in sixth place.
As the rain continued it was the open maidens next with a slip of 10 runners. Imagine and Samcro were the favourites, followed by Eden Romina but anyone betting Eden Romina is in for an exciting time as to whether she will finish or not.
As they showed on the finish it was Eden Romina who had a nice lead and all she had to do was come in which is something she is inclined not to do. However, on the night she kept coming and crossed the line in first place before stopping and turning round before she got to the bate tin but it didn’t matter as she had crossed the line which was the main thing.
Her win takes her tally to 110 points, probably the most a dog has ever won over a season and naturally David Clifford was pleased with her performance.
In second place was Imagine for Joy and Brian Lister with Gillian Bulman-Brown and Mickey O’Brien’s Peggy Sue in third place. Tanya Satterthwaite’s Samcro ran on well to get fourth place with Apache Brave for Lana and Debbie McGee taking fifth. David Clifford’s other hound Eden Rosanna finished in sixth.
The next trails are back at Seaton on Thursday with a three race card and the first trail goes off at 3.45pm. Watch out for them on the main road between Seaton and Broughton Moor and pull on the field to see all the action and potentially even have a bit of a flutter in the bookies ring!
October 8 – Dearham
- Hounds – 1. Silver Streak; 2. Silver Dream; 3. Busy Again; 4. Strawberry Mick; 5. Audacity; 6. Barncroft Express. 6 ran, time 28.41.
- Pups – 1. Minnie Million; 2. Thornton; 3. Huntsman’s Trouble; 4. Millie’s Lass; 5. Meadow Lane; 6. Lucky Breeze. 8 ran, time 15.47.
- Open Maiden – 1. Eden Romina; 2. Imagine; 3. Peggy Sue; 4. Samcro; 5. Apache Brave; 6. Eden Rosanna. 10 ran, time 15.38.
