Heart of England, Shuttington on 19 April 2026
150 yards straights; veterans 145 yards at ½yd/lb plus yd/yr
Photos courtesy of Simon Brown. Image placement not necessarily relevant to text.
A first for me, taking two dogs on the train from Wye to Tamworth, I wondered whether we could do it but we did; all in all I had a great weekend and many thanks to everyone who helped, including the cabbie who brought us gently to Shuttington. When we got there just before 2.30 Saturday afternoon, kudos to the set-up crew as the racetrack was more or less set up. Being definitely not a practical person I tip my hat to them. Last year’s superb organisation was a tough act to follow but they managed it!
Given the dry spring (did we really have a wet winter?) leaving a little more grass on top looked the right option to me; dry spell can easily become drought.
The weekend’s weather was essentially sunshine versus cold wind, indeed we had a light frost Sunday dawn and coats were on, off, and on again all day. Hot drinks were much appreciated and as ever the cooked breakfast (“better than ever” seemed to be the consensus) set us up nicely for the day. It was good to see so much business being done by the café. My youngster Larry helped the noise level along nicely (think I’ll bring ear defenders next time) but despite his new party trick of dragging tables across the hall we got an entry of 146 weighed-in on time.
Racing was impeccable, Gary Hogan and his team finished up the last race at 4.50pm, excellent going with a big presentation beforehand. The timer still needs work but there were no reruns, either for lure failure or disqualification, the latter reflecting well on clubs’ puppy-schooling and responsible owners not pushing their youngsters too far. As it was the first meeting of the Open season I expected one or two DQs but there were none.
Now, the whippets. We had one new Racing Champion, Darcia Gingell’s and Rob Hughes’ Duncton Ghost Town, and three new Veteran Crowns; Mike Head and Ilid Davies’ *Along Came Betty, Sarah and Vince Hart’s WCRCh Scrappy Doo, and Kevin Coe & Keeley Bradshaw’s WCRCh Moonlight Millie. The veteran groups were tougher than usual with a lot of mid-April birthdays and 4/5 days before entries closed it looked like one might even make quarter-finals. The 26lb Champs weight class did make quarter-finals so started off proceedings, followed by the 16lb heats.
16lb group. The only Championship group without semis. Heat wins for John and Jill Gardner’s Red Light and Mark Jervis’ WCRCh Cheadle Heart, but in a close final it was Will Nicholls’ and Julie Quinton’s *Riverside Nefertiti who prevailed by a head from Red Light with WCRCh Cheadle Heart a length back and in 4th, Louise Fisher’s Wee Dazzle Of Scotch another length back.
18lb group. In the heats, Sarah’s WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic led home the Villis’ Ameesha Wild Orchid; their *Ameesha Little Devil beat Ian Tegart’s *Fantazi Just like Heaven; and Ameesha Atomic Blonde beat Maxine Thompson’s Girl On Fyre (her very first proper race). The Gardners’ I Am The One also won her heat, most creditable for a whippet with sight in only one eye.
In the first semi, Ameesha Atomic Blonde beat WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic. In the second Ameesha Wild Orchid was chased home by Girl On Fyre.
The final – Maxine’s *Girl On Fyre improving race by race, ran brilliantly to take her half-coat at the first time of asking, beating WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic half a length in a three-way blanket finish, Ameesha Atomic Blonde a close third and fourth, a length further back Ameesha Wild Orchid.
20lb group. A smaller group than usual, the ultimate group winner and runner-up were drawn together in the first heat, Rebecca Villis’ WCRCh Villiers Rocketman beating Pat Gant & Lilli Merchant’s Tilt Ya Kilt two lengths, George Whalley’s Here Comes Me Son 3rd, the draw wasn’t very kind to him. The other heat winners were the Villis’ Ameesha Blaze Of Glory (another newcomer), Louise Fisher’s Maximum Dazzle and Dave Williams’ Odds On Mollie.
The first semi was a convincing 4-length win for WCRCh Villiers Rocketman from Maximum Dazzle, time 9.86; in the second (time 10,01) Odds On Mollie beat Tilt Ya Kilt three lengths. The final turned out much closer, WCRCh Villiers Rocketman half a length ahead of Tilt Ya Kilt, Odds on Mollie ½ length further back and Maximum Dazzle another length back in fourth.
22lb group. The first heat could have been a final, indeed if you framed a handicap from the finishing distances you’d find they were the four fastest dogs in the group. The race was won by Mike Head and Ilid Davies’ WCRCh Just Red, 1½ lengths 2nd Mark & Lisa King’s The Flyin Scotsman, the unlucky 3rd and 4th were Pat Gant & Maisie Ray’s *Up Ya Kilt and Nicola and John Walton’s WCRCh Pure Delight.
It opened up the rest of the draw somewhat, heat wins for Sarah Layfield’s *Winterfell What The Heck, Viv Thurman’s Ooh Ah A Devil and Steve Miller’s Apache One Love.
WCRCh Just Red and The Flyin Scotsman both comfortably won their semis, setting up a rematch, again it was WCRCh Just Red who prevailed, this time by a length and a quarter. Third was *Winterfell What The Heck and 4th Ooh Ah A Devil.
24lb group. Heat wins for Vince and Sarah’s *Monochrome Magik, Nicola and John’s WCRCh Gimme Delight, Christine Howard’s Ryamber Too A T and Rebecca’s Villiers Dark Storm. The first semi-final was a blanket finish, 1st *Monochrome Magik, 2nd Ryamber Too A T, 3rd Denise Pitcher’s *Foxie Flyer and 4th Aaron Both’s Hamill Valiant; the second semi more spread-out, WCRCh Gimme Delight from Dark Storm, his kennelmate Villiers Mighty Mouse 3rd and Garry Comber’s Lukatme 4th.
The final was tight, but the evergreen WCRCh Gimme Delight took it by half a length from *Monochrome Magik, a head back Ryamber Too A T, and 2 lengths further down was Villiers Dark Storm who looks to have come on from last year.
26lb group. The only group with quarter-finals. Six heats, wins for Mark Halls’ Two Bob Bit; William and Julie’s Riverside Kufu beating Tom Moody’s puppy Rocket Stan a length with Garry Comber’s Ury Got Me a close 3rd; John & Sheila Strain’s WCRCh Return Of The Mac; Ruth Mabb’s All Eyes On Ike winning a close one from Christine’s Ryamber Room At the Top and Graham Gilfeather’s Gimme Trish’s Dream; Jo Lock’s *Sea The Sunrise and the Hunters’ WCRCh Brontë, Aaron’s Hamil Bullseye a length down in 2nd.
In the quarters, Rocket Stan (2nd in a strong heat) certainly put his name forward, beating WCRCh Return Of The Mac two lengths, who didn’t run badly at all, a race time of 9.70; wins also for Riverside Kufu, WCRCh Bronte and *Sea The Sunrise. Good runs also from Rebecca’s Villiers Rocky Road, 18 months, All Eyes On Ike and Hamil Bullseye to reach the semis.
The time of the first semi, 9.75 and a winning margin of 4 lengths from WCRCh Bronte emphasised Rocket Stan’s credentials. The second semi-final (9.98) was a much closer affair, *Sea The Sunrise making a good bid for his “other half” edging out WCRCh Return Of The Mac by a head. The final essentially went to form, the other three all ran well but *Rocket Stan won his first Championship weight class by three lengths. A close tussle for 2nd won on the nod by WCRCh Return Of The Mac from *Sea The Sunrise, with Brontë (veteran in July!) only 2 lengths further back in 4th.
28lb group. A smaller class than usual but still plenty of competition, with one Racing Champion and three half-coats lining up, never judge the strength of a group on numbers alone. Gwen Heppenstall’s WCRCh Let’s Go Nuts won a terrific little 2-dog heat by a head from Lynne & Alistair Holmes’ *One Scotch Too Many. WCRCh Let’s Go Nuts. *One Scotch Too Many, Darcia and Rob’s *Duncton Ghost Town and Gwen’s *Frame Thi Sen all won through from the semis, *Duncton Ghost Town by three lengths from WCRCh Let’s Go Nuts, *One Scotch Too Many by a neck from *Frame Thi Sen, another great little race.
From these, WCRCh Duncton Ghost Town prevailed to become the only new Racing Champion, gaining his title at the first time of asking by 2 lengths from WCRCh Let’s Go Nuts, 3rd *One Scotch Too Many and 4th *Frame Thi Sen. Second, third and fourth all do bends so I’m looking forward to watching this lot next time.
30lb group. This one’s strengthened up of late, I’d call it a tough group. Dave and Sandra Bursey’s puppy Markamy’s Black Bertie immediately put down a marker, comfortably winning the first heat but behind him it was a tight contest for 2nd between Chris Booth’s Cheadle Star and Adrian Fearn’s Here to Infinity, Cheadle Star progressing.
Philip and Chrystal Fusi’s *Danger Dash beat George Whalley’s WCRCh Joe Cocker half a length in heat two, heat three Karen Bridge’s *Rush About led home Mark Halls’ Nice To see You by ¾ length. Heat four, Gary Hogan’s WCRCh Gunns Donovan beat Louise Fisher’s youngster Dazzle Teddy Boy 1½ lengths, all boiling up nicely.
Markamy’s Black Bertie won his semi, again comfortably, from Rush About, while in the second semi-final WCRCh Gunns Donovan beat Nice To See You 2½ lengths with *Danger Dash only half a length down in 3rd.
The final looked to be *Markamy’s Black Bertie’s to lose, with his semi-final the faster by four yards, and so it proved, four lengths was his winning distance over WCRCh Gunns Donovan, a head back in 3rd was *Rush About and a good 4th Nice To See You.
32lb group. Two good puppies entered, Denise Pitcher’s Secret Squirrel and Sean & Barbara Lee’s Selby Wise Boy, both fourteen months old, born three days apart, which would prevail or would the old hands beat them off? I’d heard about Secret Squirrel’s high-class clearing trials, and watched Selby Wise Boy develop. Well the first round told us the youngsters were up to the mark, both winning along with kennelmate WCRCh Selby Lad (six months off veteran). The first semi gave us a big clue, Selby Wise Boy beating his contemporary 1½ lengths, while WCRCh Selby Lad beat Louise’s Dazzle Hurricane in t’other, race time a yard slower.
This form was replicated in the final. *Selby Wise Boy took it by a length and a half from his kennel mate WCRCh Selby Lad, with Secret Squirrel half a length back and a couple more lengths to Dazzle Hurricane. Great races from all four and certainly more to come from first and third.
In the Veteran Crowns, all six groups were well-contested. In the 6/7 years 14-20lb group heats, Mike and Ilid’s *Along Came Betty and Sarah’s *Winterfell Must be Love won their heats while in the final, VC *Along Came Betty led home Philippa & Rob Rixon’s M’Lady En Rouge 1½ lengths back, 3rd Lynn and Dave Hunter’s Zinghela Go-Quick, 4th *Winterfell Must be Love.
6/7yrs 21-25lb group. Again, two heats. Sarah and Vince’s redoubtable WCRCh Scrappy Doo took the first from Dave Williams’ Odds On Willow, while Dave and Lynn’s WCRCh Tiana led Maxine Thompson’s Angel Eyes, a good run to stay within three lengths. She was withdrawn from the final (hoping it turned out a false alarm and she got home sound). The final was won by WCRCh VC Scrappy Doo, gaining his “full set” at the first opportunity, 2nd by 1½ lengths WCRCh Tiana and 3rd three yards further back was Odds On Willow.
6/7yrs 26-32lb group. A shame that Jeff’s To Dare Is To Do and Ruth’s WCRCh VC One For Arthur were both absent with gracilis injury, we wish To Dare is To Do a long and happy retirement and hopefully One For Arthur can come back. Even so, a strong group, with heat wins for Louise’s Dazzle Dee, Graham’s *Rising Sun, Alistair and Lynne’s WCRCh Believe In Me and Kevin & Keeley’s WCRCh Moonlight Millie. WCRCh Believe In Me took the first semi from Dazzle Dee, while WCRCh Moonlight Millie edged out Colin and Tina Jennings’ WCRCh Chieftain Challenger (running off the back all day) in the second.
The final, four classy dogs, but it was WCRCh VC Moonlight Millie who came home first to gain her full set, a length back WCRCh Believe In Me, 3rd another length back Dazzle Dee with WCRCh Chiefton Challenger two lengths further.
8/9yrs 14-20lb group. Only three runners but class there all the same. Jacquie Mullin’s VC *London Girl had a great race with Dave and Lynn’s WCRCh My Girl Enfys to claim a further Veteran Crown, crossing the line 3rd Paul and Samantha Priest’s Scratchybrat.
8/9yrs 21-25lb group. A hard senior veteran group. The first heat was competitive in the extreme with the Strains’ The Mighty Finn, John & Jill Gardner’s VC She was A Showgirl, Jacquie and Dean’s WCRCh VC Glad All Over (mum to 30lb and 32lb winners) and Dave & Carole’s WCRCh VC Call Me Enchanting. In a rough, tough race they finished in that order. Heat two, Dave & Lynn’s *Zikomo Go-Quick came home ahead of Sarah’s Winterfell A Dash Crazy.
The final was tight. When it mattered, VC She Was A Showgirl reversed the heat placings, beating *Zikomo Go-Quick by a length, an on-the-nod third for The Mighty Finn and a length further down, Winterfell A dash Crazy. A good race.
8/9yrs 26-32lb group. Five good dogs lined up, in heat one Dave Favell’s WCRCh VC Lovely Jubbly beat Vanessa Shipley’s Alpha Brava one length, another length back Colin and Tina’s Machine Gun Kelly. Heat 2, Jackie and Glen Hughes’ WCRCh Stormin’ Norman beat the Brearleys’ WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold 1½ lengths. In the final, WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold got his revenge, winning by a length from WCRCh Stormin’ Norman; a length further back WCRCh VC Lovely Jubbly, another length to Alpha Brava.
All in all, an enjoyable day, some cracking racing, great efforts from the whippets, and a happy one. A nice way to start the 2026 season. Many, many thanks to all our helpers, without you there’d be no racing. At the final presentation we handed over the Tinkers Trophy to the inaugural 2025 winners, the Northern PWRC, well done to all their team. Up to the other clubs now to see if they can topple them this year!
Mark Etheridge reporting