HEART OF ENGLAND PWRC, SHUTTINGTON on 14th September 2025
240 yards bends, veterans 140 yards at ½yd/lb plus yd/yr
Photos courtesy of Robert Cuss
Rescheduled from 29 June, this was the first of three big bend events this autumn, with the Trish Gilfeather Mort Memorial on 5 October and our Fourth Championships a week later. Re-booking after the cancellation wasn’t easy, trying to find free Parish Hall dates that didn’t impact a crowded Open calendar, but with the Heart of England Committee’s invaluable assistance, together we made it. We were rewarded with our best bend Championships entry for some years at 105.
The Heart of England ground team have worked so hard this year, keeping the grass in good order across the hot dry summer has been a challenge. Equipment-wise, Dave Cuttler spent the last week manufacturing new bend rollers and they worked perfectly first time, something of a triumph as anyone who’s set up a bend will know.
Teamwork’s an overused word but kudos to those who gave up Saturday to help with the setting-up… who got up early on Sunday to do the finishing touches… who worked together so well to run a near-seamless meeting. Our canteen ladies who as ever put in a long shift for us, up at crack o’doon. We had only one rerun (when a dog took a short-cut), and the biggest delay was the need to give the 24-27lb veterans reasonable breaks.
Race day dawned bright and sunny but soon the cloud drifted in and the first raindrops came approaching two o’clock. Within an hour we had a downpour and soon everyone was duly soaked, nevertheless we managed a four o’clock finish. We weren’t looking forward to the take-down but so many people came out to help in filthy wet conditions. Thank you all.
On to the racing. Four new Racing Champions Villiers Rocketman, Just Red, Gunns Donovan and Gimme It All, well done.
We started with the bend heats and semi finals. We then ran the veterans to completion, followed by the bend finals.
The first two veteran classes were small, not helped by seasons and several “regulars” on the injured list, but you can only beat what’s put in front of you. Well done to Philippa Rixon’s M’Lady En Rouge in the 14-20lb group, she’s run well this year but suffered some tough draws. Second was Sam and Paul Priest’s Scratchybrat. Avril’s VC Ms Moneypenny had a solo in the 21-23lb group.
By contrast, the 24-27lb weight class was tough and three quickfire rounds made it a test of recovery. Jeff’s To Dare Is To Do beat the Strains’ The Mighty Finn by a length in the first heat, next up Ruth Mabb’s WCRCh VC One For Arthur won impressively from Jo’s *Sea The Moon. Sarah’s Winterfell A Dash Crazy had a solo while Colin and Tina’s Machine Gun Kelly scored a good win against Dave Favell’s top senior veteran WCRCh VC Lovely Jubbly.
The first semi final, To Dare Is To Do won by two lengths from a blanket finish for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. WCRCh VC Lovely Jubbly pulled out all the stops to shade *Sea The Moon, with Winterfell A Dash Crazy in contention till near the finish. The second semi, WCRCh VC One For Arthur beat The Mighty Finn 1½ lengths with Machine Gun Kelly only 1½ lengths further back.
You’d think the final would be between the two unbeaten whippets but no-one told The Mighty Finn that, if they did he wasn’t listening. He prevailed by a length from WCRCh VC One For Arthur, To Dare Is To Do another length back and one more yard down in 4th, WCRCh VC Lovely Jubbly.
28-32lb. Lynne Holmes’ WCRCh Believe In Me and Sue Hoddinott’s Victor Quartermaine advanced from the first heat while in the second, Denise Pitcher’s VC Jay Jay ran the Brearleys’ WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold to a head, Feilly two weeks shy of his ninth birthday. WCRCh Believe In Me took the final by a length and a half, WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold running well in 2nd, Victor Quartermaine only four lengths down on Feilly and edging out VC JayJay in 4th.
The heavy rain during the bend finals disrupted the timer although (more importantly) the whippets largely kept their footing. The 16lb final, Mark Jervis’ WCRCh Cheadle Heart won her third Championships weight class by half a length from Terry Wheeler’s WCRCh(s) Mamma Mia, Mia likes the bends; 2½ lengths further back Ryamber Trish’s Dream, not disgraced at all.
The 18lb heats, races 3 to 5, the four finalists came from 3 & 4. Race 3, Liz Villis’ Ameesha Atomic Blonde beat Maxine Thompson’s Girl Almighty 3½ lengths. In race 4, Ian Tegart’s three-year-old Fantazi Just Like Heaven swept past Sarah Layfield’s WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic on the first bend, winning distance again 3½ lengths. Sarah’s girl made no mistake in her semi though, taking Ameesha Atomic Blonde by a length with youngster Ameesha Wild Orchid (the third heat winner) two lengths further back. Fantazi Just Like Heaven comfortably won her semi, Girl Almighty a creditable three lengths second.
In the final, *Fantazi Just Like Heaven remained unbeaten on the day, WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic a good 2nd with Girl Almighty 3rd and Ameesha Atomic Blonde 4th. Credit is due to Ian for bringing the winner along very patiently. She ran well to win at Ryemeadows two weeks back and I wondered whether she’d do something special here.
Rebecca’s *Villiers Rocketman looked the dog to beat in the 20lb group. He gained his “half” here last October and while he’s classy on the straights – he’d won this group at Ryemeadows – it’s clear bends are Sully’s forte. He won his heat well, while Steve Miller’s developing youngster Apache One Love took the next heat and in the third heat Avril’s fine WCRCh Black Fairlane beat Graham Gilfeather’s Bruce Almighty in a two-dog race. In the first semi-final, *Villiers Rocketman led WCRCh Black Fairlane home; in the second semi, Bruce Almighty (Graham says he’s the smallest dog he’s ever had) won comfortably from Apache One Love.
WCRCh Villiers Rocketman won the final in style by four lengths from WCRCh Black Fairlane, who edged Bruce Almighty into 3rd with Apache One Love a length further back, there’s more to come from this girl.
The four finalists in the 22lb group came from races 12 and 13. Mike Head’s and Ilid Davies’ *Just Red immediately looked the favourite with a five-length trap-to-line victory over Viv Thurman’s Ooh Ah A Devil, her time of 15.21 ultimately winning the Fastest Time rosette, while Grant Burton’s WCRCh Gee Gee overcame the Gardners’ youngster All About The Chase by two lengths.
In the semi-finals, *Just Red and Ooh Ah A Devil won by four and three lengths respectively, while both All About The Chase and WCRCh Gee Gee (good to see her run the bend, she certainly didn’t disgrace herself) both qualifying comfortably in second. In the final, Ooh Ah A Devil put in a concerted challenge entering the bend on *Just Red’s outside but immediately took a big knock, which might have inconvenienced WCRCh Gee Gee too; a clean run and it could have been very interesting. As it was, WCRCh Just Red became the second new Racing Champion on the day, most creditable for a whippet relatively new to bends. All About The Chase, another youngster and a bend “natural” was four lengths 2nd while Ooh Ah A Devil recovered somewhat to edge WCRCh Gee Gee for 3rd.
The four 24lb finalists all won their heats. The first semi-final saw a Hart 1-2 with *Monochrome Magik leading kennel-mate Charlie Brown. In the second, the Waltons’ high-class WCRCh Gimme Delight won comfortably in fast time (15.32) from Denise Pitcher’s *Foxie Flyer. The final was tighter, only four lengths covering the field, with WCRCh Gimme Delight coming through to beat *Monochrome Magik by a length, then Foxie Flyer and Charlie Brown.
The first 26lb heat was eventful, with John and Sheila Strain’s WCRCh Return Of The Mac slipping when leading on the second bend, allowing Ruth’s All Eyes On Ike to lead till Mac got up close home. In a tough-looking heat two, Lynne Holmes’ One Scotch Too Many, brother to the 24lb runner-up came through in style, while in the next race Terry Wheeler’s WCRCh Tik Tok Tia (veteran next July) edged Vince & Sarah’s WCRCh Scrappy Doo (six in three months’ time) by half a length, they gave us a great race. In the rerun heat, Graham’s *Mista T led home Garry Comber’s Lukatme.
Semi-final 1 was taken comfortably by WCRCh Return Of The Mac from Lukatme, while in semi 2, One Scotch Too Many beat All Eyes On Ike two lengths with WCRCh Scrappy Doo only half a length off second. With two unbeaten whippets in the final, it was *One Scotch Too Many who prevailed by three lengths from WCRCh Return Of The Mac, All Eyes On Ike an excellent 3rd and Lukatme 4th, congratulations all.
The 28lb group was tough despite non-runners, which made the first round essentially a warm-up run. In the first semi, Katherine Mansley and Lee Holden’s Loki Bear led home Garry’s Ury Got Me by two lengths. Semi 2 saw Gwen’s half-coat *Frame Thi Sen win with authority from kennelmate and litter-sister Let’s Go Nuts, only to twist awkwardly on stopping. Withdrawn from the final, I was glad to learn she was comfortable by the time of the presentation and hoping no lasting ill-effects.
Gwen did at least have the consolation of seeing *Let’s Go Nuts win her half-coat, coming home five lengths clear of Loki Bear (who’s taken well to the bends) with Ury Got Me not finishing but placed third for trophy purposes.
The 30lb group saw two fine 2-dog heats. Peter Goddard’s Mr Apollo beat Fiona Campbell’s Tiger Feet one length, then the two half-coats had their run. Gary’s *Gunns Donovan (brother to *Monochrome Magik and One Scotch Too many) must have known this was only a rehearsal. He trapped so relaxed that George’s *Joe Cocker pulled out a big lead into the bend, but no problem, somehow he pulled it all back to lead right at the death, the second bend and the run-in a real stamina-sapper. In the final, no mistake, WCRCh Gunns Donovan won trap to line to gain his title at the first attempt.
The 32lb group, after non-runners also had two 2-dog heats, all whippets half-coats. *Gimme It All beat Mark and Charlotte’s *Machs White Toed Brodes in the first heat while *Gimme Some Action won from six year-old *Rising Sun, a veteran doing bend Champs always commands respect.
The final, the last race of the day, Brody versus Team Graham, three handlers for Graham’s three dogs; all four contenders popular whippets, each one deserving the win but sadly there could only be one. WCRCh Gimme It All won well by four lengths, with *Machs White Toed Brodes, *Gimme Some Action and *Rising Son finishing in close order, all to applause from the gallery, lovely to hear.
Once again, many thanks to everyone who helped out. We look forward to seeing everyone on 12th October for the 4th Championships, forms for this and for the Trsh Gilfeather Mort Memorial Open can be downloaded from our website.
Mark Etheridge reporting