Sunday will see the annual Gilsland Show take place just north of Carlisle.
It will include a four-race hound trail meeting with slipping times slightly later than normal, starting at 2pm for the seniors.
In advance of the meeting, the hounds were given the opportunity to have a look round the course in mid-week with 29 involved in the three trails.
The senior hounds were first to go with a slip of 12 and Sportsman was sent off as favourite.
That was to be expected given recent performances and the fact he seems to like running round that area.
At the first road after about three or four minutes running it was Sportsman for William and Daphne Mark along side Discover for Anna and Kerry Lindsay who were leading the group.
But there wasn’t much in it between all the hounds.
At about 15 minutes running, the hounds could be seen again and Sportsman was still leading but by now he was accompanied by Flightline for Ashley Horn and Sarah White with the remaining hounds still in contention.
At the next road Sportsman was still leading but Discover had made up ground to be alongside him.
They had a few lengths on Meadow Artisan for Paul Airey and Joanne Hodgson and Millie’s Lass for George McGimpsey and Gillian and Millie Telford.
When the hounds came onto the finish it was still Sportsman who had headed the race for the majority of the time followed by Discover and Minnie Million, who had made up ground over the second half of the trail.
In the end Sportsman came clear to win with Flightline having another surge to take second place.
Meadow Lane took third place for Paul Airey and Joanne Hodgson with Minnie Million for Joy and Brian Lister finishing in fourth ahead of Discover and Millie’s Lass.
The win for Sportsman was his 12th and he is now seven behind Silver Dream in the championship table.
Following on the open pups had a field of four hounds and the favourite was table-topping Delta Fortune.
Over the first half of the trail all four hounds remained close together. They seemed to struggle slightly over the second half of the trail but Delta Fortune pulled away over the last road.
Once they came back into sight the lead had changed and it was the Wall’s family’s Denton Adonis and Denton Phantom who came together. They both finished well and it was close on the line with Denton Phantom just getting the verdict.
Delta Fortune showed in fourth place but finished strongly to take third with TikTok taking the last ticket.
The last race of the night was for the Open Maidens with a slip of 13 runners.
Once underway some hounds made a mistake and hit the trail going the wrong way, which left Fire Lass on her own.
She completed the trail despite having no company to win for Amanda and Megan Telford.
Gilsland – July 29
- Hounds – 1. Sportsman; 2. Flightline; 3. Meadow Lane; 4. Minnie Million; 5. Discover; 6. Millie’s Lass. 12 ran, time 28.43.
- Pups – 1. Denton Phantom; 2. Denton Adonis; 3. Delta Fortune; 4. TikTok. 4 ran, time 27.53.
- Open Maidens – 1. Fire Lass. 13 ran, only one finished, time 28.54.
