Delta Fortune won the 2025 Puppy Championship and created a little bit of history.
He was the first hound trained by former Border Association members to lift a major title in the HRA (formerly the HTA).
It was a special moment for owners/trainers Sarah and Baz Harper and Hartley Robinson.
Hartley is 96 years young, still gardening and doing his bit with the hounds, part of the Delta team.
He is Sarah’s grandfather, and as she lived next door with her parents growing up, hounds have been very much part of her life since those early days.
It meant that when she got married to Barry – known as Baz – he sort of fell into the sport as all good partners do.
It was his own passion for another sport which meant that he and Sarah missed three weeks of the season at the business end.
He’s a triathlete and had been selected for Team GB in a world age group championship in Australia, just when things were getting interesting in the battle for the Puppy Championship.
So with lots of written instructions left behind Sarah and Baz took off to Wollongong, leaving Hartley, Sarah’s dad Eric and fellow trainer Lee Wall to supervise the end-of-season efforts of Delta Fortune to hang on to his long-time lead.
He did just that, although at one point his had evaporated from 11 down to two, and as they say in football it was squeaky bum time.
Delta Fortune, or Toby as he is known at home and when racing for the bait tin, might have been ruled out for the season because of an injury and illness.
Sarah says: “It started with a toe problem which appeared to have been sorted but left him with a hole in it.
“Then when the cough started, although he didn’t get it right away, he was affected and it certainly hit him harder than the rest.
“It was probably because he was still fighting the infection and his immune system wasn’t coping, but he went down with pneumonia.
“That was tough because he spent 24 hours at the vets with a drip and then he stayed with me in the house for three days.
“Gradually he picked up and eventually he was able to have a run round the field, and after seven weeks he was back running again.”
Toby’s health was the most important thing but during his absence his main title rival Tucker had chalked-up a series of wins over the fields and dykes.
Luckily Toby made a full recovery and was back running at Teviothead Show on September 20 with seven weeks of the season left.
He finished fifth there and had a couple more tickets but without a win, so by October 22 the gap was down to two wins and with Sarah and Baz away in Australia it was left to grandad Hartley, dad Eric and Lee to complete the season.
They did so well as Toby then scored two wins at Steel Rigg to extend his wins to 23 with Tucker on 19 and the title was in the bag.
The family has enjoyed several lower grade successes in the Borders but this was the first major Championship.
Sarah ended up with Toby when she had been looking for a bitch puppy.
She explained: “I’d lined my own bitch but she had missed and I was just sitting on the sofa one night when I saw that Tracy Hill was saying there were three available at Glenis and Raymond Farren’s.
“They were by Tracy’s Milo Moon out of Jenny’s Oracle, who had been Denise Bland’s but had been running for Glenis and Raymond.
“Tracy said she was going to Glenis and Raymond’s to pick one up.
“I said could she bring me a bitch and she said she would. She rang later to say that she had got back but by mistake she had brought a dog instead.
“She brought him round and I rather liked him but I went back to Glenis and Raymond’s, put him down with the others – and still preferred him so kept him.
“He then went to Tracy’s with some of his brothers and sisters until he was about five months old.
“Because of the luck involved in all that I decided to call him Delta Fortune – and that’s proved extra fortunate!”
The Delta prefix goes back over 25 years to when her dad was selling a certain type of dog food called Delta.
She now has a pup for next year, as yet unnamed out of Clementine by Reebok but which has done everything asked of him after being set off recently.
“We’re calling him Ted the Tank because of how he looks but no official name yet,” she says.
Over the season Toby won at a total of 14 venues – Helton twice, West Woodburn twice, Cold Fell four times, Gamelsby once, Walton Moss twice, Greenholme once, Tallentire Hill once, Spadeadam twice, Newcastleton once, Moss Peteral twice, Shap once, Gilsland once, Calebreak once and Steel Rigg twice.
His most impressive month was June where he ticketed seven times, six of which were wins, including the International.
Toby had showed great promise throughout the March trials and took his first ticket on April 6 where he finished 6th in the pups at Oulton.
He then scored his first win, which was actually a puppy maiden race at Oulton on April 13. It was at the Denis Reay Memorial meeting where he ran the race faster than the open pups.
Toby had his first open puppy win at Helton on April 19 and he then took a string of wins, winning twice at West Woodburn, once at Cold Fell in the Whitehaven Classic and once at Lowther Park.
The future champion then finished third at Helton’s May Day trails having ran off on the finish and dropping back to seventh. From there he finished impressively to get up to third.
He then didn’t have another win until May 31 at Gamelsby before winning five Championship races in June and took the honours at the 2025 International at Tallentire Hill.
That was where his eventual nearest rival for the title Tucker battled it out with him for the open pup win although International races do not count towards the championship.
Toby also took the honours at the Copshaw Common Riding to bring Sarah, Baz and Hartley home the “yellow sheet” which was a special tribute to Sarah and her team as she had never won it before.
He put together a string of wins and had gathered up 21 wins by August 11 with his nearest rival being Huntsman’s Unite on 11.
Then came his illness setback, the narrowing of the lead by Tucker and finally the late double at Steel Rigg to see him home.
Delta Fortune has shown himself capable of a strong finish and sometimes came from third place to be first over the line.
So 2026 promises to be another exciting year for the hounds and the family.
Will Delta Fortune step up to challenge in the race for the senior championship?
Can Ted the Tank do as well as Toby in the puppy championship?
Or can Baz Harper top it all with a medal in the 35-40 age group in Spain at the Triathlon World Championships?
