Miterdale Duchess completed back-to-back championship titles in the veterans grade last season – but that isn’t new to owner Denis Peare, writes John Walsh.
He achieved the same feat in 2013 and 2014 with Cinnabar – although the first one had been shared with Beyonce.
The 2025 Veterans Champion in the HRA was retaining the title she won 12 months earlier for Denis and his partner Jackie Gill.
Known as Jodie in the Little Langdale kennel, and on the trail field, she finished five points clear of her nearest rival Eagle Rock (aka Jimi) who is owned by Linda Neale, Mark, Josh and Georgia Bryden.
For most of the season Jodie and Jimi battled it out at the top of the veterans’ table.
Jimi had the upper hand for most of the season, up until the beginning of October where he failed to ticket a couple of times in the grade which proved crucial in the battle for the championship.
Denis acquired Miterdale Duchess from the Steele family early in her senior career after she had picked up six wins as a pup.
“She didn’t seem to be doing much and they had two dogs going well at the time so when I asked about her they said I could have her.
“It was a question of going through the grades after that and she seemed to get better with age,” he says.
She was runner-up to Winterfell in the 2023 senior championship but that year beat him in the senior international trail at Sewing Shields.
She had previously been second in the open restricted trail at the 2021 international at Greenhead.
“I still think that win in the international was the highlight of her career,” says Denis.
She started her career with Sophie Steele in 2019 and had six wins, sixth in the table behind champion Acorn (31) before moving to Denis the following year.
In 2021 she won four senior trails, two open maidens, two open restricted and a senior maiden.
The 2022 season saw her finish sixth in the senior table with seven wins behind Jenny’s Quest (15).
Her best year in the senior championship was in 2023 when she had 15 wins, finishing runner-up to Winterfell and since then has taken two veterans titles.
The first was with 110 points, including 10 wins, beating Adele who also had ten wins but only accumulated 100 points.
This season she started her ticketing campaign in the Veteran grade on April 12 when she won at Low Place.
From there she finished 3rd at Gamelsby at the Bitch Produce Races; 4th at Greenholme Show; 2nd at Latrigg Tops; 1st at Kirkland Leaps at the Festival of Hound Racing; 1st at Latrigg Tops; 1st at Millstone Moor at Cockermouth Show Races; 1st at Rusland Show; 2nd at Grasmere Sports; 5th at Shap; 1st at Lowick Show; 1st at Eskdale Show; 1st at Dubbs Lane; 1st at Seaton; 6th at Steel Rigg and won the last day of the season at Millstone Moor bringing her total to 80 points.
As well as these HRA tickets Jodie also finished third in the 2025 International at Tallentire Hill on June 21 but International tickets do not count towards the veterans championship.
Jodie also proved herself more than capable of still being able to handle the distance as her actual first ticket of the season was a fourth in the Senior race at Low Place on April 5.
From there she won the Seniors at Rusland on August 12 and eight days later she finished 5th at Rusland. Jodie also finished 6th at Bridekirk on May 26 in the Open Restricted grade and five days later won the grade at Gamelsby.
Jodie ticketed a total of 17 times at 15 different venues throughout the season – Low Place, Gamelsby, Greenholme, Tallentire Hill, Latrigg (twice), Kirkland, Millstone Moor (twice) Rusland, Grasmere, Shap, Lowick, Eskdale, Dubbs Lane, Seaton and Steel Rigg.
She was extremely versatile although preferring the fell terrain she was a willing runner, too, over fells and dykes. Ten of her 17 tickets were for wins.
So will she be going for a hat-trick of championships at eight years of age in 2026?
Denis is reluctant to give a definite yes but as she’s fit and healthy at the moment he will see how she is come next season.
“I was hoping she was going to come into season so that I could line her but it hasn’t happened, and she’s never had pups before,” he says.
But will he have a pup to run next year with only Miterdale Duchess and the even older Hawkswood (10) in the kennel?
“I haven’t got one at the moment but I’m still toying with the idea of getting one from somewhere,” he admits.
Miterdale Duchess was sired by Keith Lynch’s Endure, lined with Glenis Farren’s Mysterious and it’s also worth noting that the 2025 Puppy Champion Delta Fortune is her nephew as well.
Cleator Moor-born Denis was more of a rugby man in his early days, and is still a keen supporter of Whitehaven RL, especially pleased with the decision top buils a squad of keen, young locals.
He had a spell as a youngster with Wath Brow Hornets and then played rugby union as a centre with Fleetwood (when he was working down in that area) and Windermere when he returned to the county.
“I was keen on climbing and mountaineering in my younger days, which took me to Austria first of all and since then I’ve worked on Skye and in Spain in the forestry trade.
“I came to Little Langdale about 40 years ago and although I’d always been interested in hound trailing, became more involved in the sport when I got to know George Birkett.
“I have never had a lot of hounds on together. I think three will be the most I’ve had running at once and in recent years we seem to have had older hounds.
“Hawkswood, Cinnabar and now Miterdale Duchess have all done well for us,” he says.
As long as these older hounds are fit and healthy Denis believes in running them, so hopefully he and Jackie will have the opportunity to land the first ever treble title win in the Veterans grade this year.
