HEART OF ENGLAND PWRC, SHUTTINGTON on 10th August 2025
150 yards straights; veterans 145 yards at ½yd/lb plus yd/yr
NB: Photos will be added to the write up when available
A hot-weather race meeting, once more a case of watching the weather forecast, but thankfully 4-5 days out we knew we were on. As it happened, setting-up Saturday was merely warm and sunny, with a barbeque in the evening. Food was abundant including a choice of home-made desserts (Lynn Hunter had outdone herself with a cheese-cake and an apple crumble) amongst others. The Hunters loaned the use of their huge George Foreman grill which cooked the meats to perfection; thank you Dave & Lynn – I think we were all full to bursting.
Sunday was hot from the get-go, by finishing at 4.20pm the hard-working Heart of England team dismantled and stowed the equipment by 6’ish which included a pause for the presentation.
Plaudits to our Racing Manager Gary Hogan and his doughty crew for a day which ran like clockwork and I think was one of the happiest “big” meetings I’ve ever attended.
Once again, we are immensely grateful for the Heart of England members who look after us wonderfully, and put in so much work to keep the ground raceable. Their efforts meant we raced on good-to-firm ground with an ample cushion of grass.
We had a good entry of 140 dogs. Four new Racing Champions and three new Veteran Crowns; Racing Champions Cheadle Heart, Winterfell Tangfastic, Return Of The Mac and Smithyfold Arrow; Veteran Crowns Glad All Over and One For Arthur (both already WCRCh) and Ryamber Stan The Man. Well done to all.
16lb group. Great to see semis for this group. Mark Jervis’ WCRCh Cheadle Heart was our first new champion, beating Louise Fisher’s Razzle Dazzle by a length with Nicola Groundwell’s WCRCh Penderyn’s Poppylicious a length further back in third, fourth Christine Howard’s Ryamber Trish’s Star a couple of lengths further back.
18lb group. Another 1-2-3-4 for Liz and Richard’s Ameesha clan would have been incredible had all four girls came through the heats – except the draw put three of them in the first semi. Race times (9.78 and 9.81) indicated a close final, and so it was. Sarah Layfield’s very consistent bitch WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic, has made seven finals in total and made this her second Championship win, besting WCRCh Ameesha Born To Run by half a length, Ameesha Atomic Blonde another half-length back and Ameesha Wild Orchid another length down.
20lb group. Biggest of the day, seven heats. First quarter-final, Pat Gant and Maisie Ray’s *Up Ya Kilt, last time’s group winner won by three lengths from Steve and Diane Gardner’s youngster All About The Chase. Both qualified comfortably. Much the same for the second quarter, Mike Head & Ilid Davies’ *Along Came Betty beating Rebecca Villis’ *Villiers Rocketman. Third quarter, Dave Williams’ Odds On Mollie won well, Graham Gilfeather’s game Bruce Almighty edged second against George Whalley’s Here Comes Me Son. Fourth quarter, “only” a two-dog race but a good ‘un, Nicola Groundwell’s Penderyn’s Arctic Blast beating Louise Fisher’s Maximum Dazzle by a head.
The first semi, timed at 9.79 looked much the stronger, *Villiers Rocketman qualifying ahead of *Up Ya Kilt, with Odds On Mollie and Maximum Dazzle bowing out; in the second, All About The Chase led home Penderyn’s Arctic Blast, then *Along Came Betty and Bruce Almighty in a time of 10.12. Five yards’ slower than the first semi, you’d think no chance, but tell that to the dogs, a length and a half covered the field. *Penderyn’s Arctic Blast prevailed by a head from *Villiers Rocketman, with *Up Ya Kilt half a length third and fourth All About The Chase, at her first big race meeting a length further back.
22lb group. No quarter-finals but tough racing and 14 in the group. The second heat was truly horrid, Mike and Ilid’s Just Red beating Grant Burton’s WCRCh Gee Gee by half a length with Sarah Layfield’s *Winterfell What The Heck only a yard further back, unluckily drawn with 1st and 2nd in group.
The third heat was also close with Katherine Mansley and Jason Holden’s Little Treasure half a length ahead of Viv Thurman’s Ooh Ah A Devil.
In the first semi, WCRCh Gee Gee won from Little Treasure, the Waltons’ heat-winner WCRCh Pure Delight 3rd and the Hunters’ WCRCh Tiana 4th. The second semi, Just Red beat Ooh Ah A Devil with Gary Hogan’s heat-winner Mistress 3rd and Saxton Brown’s Silver Monkey 4th.
The final, four good dogs who’d really earned their dinner. The youngster *Just Red, who’s now come to hand with some purpose, beat WCRCh Gee Gee by a length, with Little Treasure another yard back and Ooh Ah A Devil a further yard in fourth.
24lb group. The second group with quarter-finals. Dave Hughes and Anna Bradshaw’s *Smithyfold Rocket, Christine Howard’s Ryamber Too A T and Nicola & John Walton’s WCRCh Gimme Delight the defending Racing Champion reached the semis unbeaten, joined by Denise Pitcher’s *Foxie Flyer, the Hunters’ WCRCh Brontë, Christine Padmore’s Little Rebel, the Harts’ new kid on the block Monochrome Magik and Rebecca’s Villiers Mighty Mouse.
Semi-final 1 – *Foxie Flyer beat Ryamber Too A T by two lengths, two lengths more to 3rd Villiers Mighty Mouse just shading 4th Little Rebel. Semi 2 was tighter, WCRCh Gimme Delight prevailing by a length to remain unbeaten, 2nd Monochrome Magic edging out WCRCh Brontë and *Smithyfold Rocket by a length.
If he’d run the race of his life in the semi, *Monochrome Magik eclipsed that in the final, coming home by half a length from WCRCh Pure Delight, *Foxie Flyer and Ryamber Too A T creditable 3rd and 4th.
26lb group. Fewer dogs than usual, but never an easy group; John Wareing’s WCRCh Forever Jack The Lad scooped the Fastest Time rosette with 9.46 in his heat. In the semi-finals, Mark and Christine’s Ryamber Room At The Top beat John and Sheila Strain’s *Return Of The Mac half a length while WCRCh Forever Jack The Lad finished a neck ahead of Ruth Mabb’s All Eyes On Ike who ran really well all day.
The final was tight, distances of a head, half a length and a head.
The final was tight, distances of a head, half a length and a head. WCRCh Return Of The Mac won his first “half” over 2 years ago and has had a few near-misses since, but today he saved the best till last, a well-earned title. Second, WCRCh Forever Jack The Lad made a good defence, 3rd Ryamber Room At The Top and 4th All Eyes On Ike. What a great race.
28lb group. In the heats, race 29 was another toughie, Darcia and Rob’s Duncton Ghost Town and Gwen Heppenstall’s Let’s Go Nuts, 2nd and 3rd in the 1st Champs edged out last week’s winner Katherine Mansley and Jason Holden’s Loki Bear, distances half a length and a length. Race 30 was also close, Gwen’s *Frame Thi Sen beating David and Anna’s *Smithyfold Ace ¾ length, while Philip and Crystal’s *Danger Dash and Kev & Sue’s *Cairdean Chucklehead won heats 31 and 32.
Duncton Ghost Town and *Frame Thi Sen each won their semi by two lengths, but in both, 2nd was close. In the first, *Smithyfold Ace edged out *Danger Dash then *Cairdean Chucklehead shaded Let’s Go Nuts, putting three half-coats in the final.
The semi-final times, 9.69 and 9.66 suggested a close final, but *Duncton Ghost Town, businesslike all day, swept home by 1½ lengths, a classy performance. 2nd, 3rd and 4th were tough to separate, the video camera was busy all day, *Smithyfold Ace just ahead of *Frame Thi Sen and *Cairdean Chucklehead.
30lb group. In the first round, Karen Bridge’s youngster Rush About prevailed over Dave Williams’ Odds On Tess, while Gary Hogan’s youngster Gunns Donavon (litter brother to Monochrome Magik) beat George Whalley’s *Joe Cocker. In the final, *Gunns Donavon won by a length from *Joe Cocker with Rush About and Odds On Tess 3rd and 4th.
32lb group. The first heat, Sean and Barbara Lee’s WCRCh Selby Lad, back from injury led Mark and Charlotte Bursey’s *Machs White Toed Brodes by two lengths, time 9.73; heat two saw last time’s winner, Paul Seanor’s *Smithyfold Arrow beat Louise’s Dazzle Hurricane 2½ lengths, time 9.58. Paul’s dog, WCRCh Smithyfold Arrow won his title at the first time of asking by three-quarters of a length from WCRCh Selby Lad, ¾ length further to *Machs White Toed Brodes in third and Dazzle Hurricane half a length further back, a good race.
In the Veteran Crowns, one group was vacant but the other five were well-contested. In the 6/7 years 14-20lb group heats, Jacquie Mullin and Dean Leonard’s VC *London Girl edged out the Hunters’ WCRCh My Girl Enfys by a length, the Rixons’ M’Lady En Rouge a creditable 3rd; and Liz and Richard Villis’ WCRCh VC Ameesha Summer Rocket won convincingly from Enfys’ litter-sister *Zikomo. The final was closer, half a length over VC *London Girl with WCRCh My Girl Enfys 3rd and *Zikomo 4th.
6/7yrs 21-25lb group. In the first heat, Avril Caunce’s VC Ms Moneypenny beat John and Sheila’s The Mighty Finn half a length, while next race, Jacquie and Dean’s WCRCh Glad All Over beat Sarah’s Winterfell A Dash Crazy. Come the final, WCRCh VC Glad All Over, at almost 8 years of age, cruised home by three lengths from The Mighty Finn, VC Ms Moneypenny a length back in 3rd, and Winterfell A Dash Crazy two lengths further in 4th. A well-deserved “full set” for a top whippet.
6/7yrs 26-32lb group. Ruth Mabb’s WCRCh One For Arthur dominated a strong field, starting by beating Jeff Hill’s fine veteran To Dare Is To Do by three lengths. The second heat was definitely not easy, Glen & Jackie Hughes’ WCRCh Stormin’ Norman holding off Ellie Stacey’s new veteran Lemon Sherbet by half a length, Dave and Sandra Bursey’s Markamy’s Reddie Eddie two lengths down in 3rd. Third heat, a two-dog classic, Jo Lock’s *Sea The Moon shading Graham Gilfeather’s *Rising Sun by a nose.
Semi-finals – WCRCh One For Arthur eased through, three lengths back Lemon Sherbet just prevailed over *Sea The Moon, so close. Next, To Dare Is To Do flew the box, WCRCh Stormin’ Norman 2nd two lengths back, *Rising Sun bowing out honourably.
The final went to form, WCRCh VC One For Arthur skating home by four lengths. His time, adjusted to 150 yards translates to 9.93, good enough for 3rd in the 26lb Champs final. To Dare Is To Do had a great run for 2nd, two lengths back Lemon Sherbet and a length further down WCRCh Stormin’ Norman.
8/9yrs 21-25lb group. Only two runners (due to 2 non runners) but a good duel. Christine’s wonderfully consistent open-racer VC Stan The Man beat Dave and Carole Cuttler’s fine WCRCh VC Call Me Enchanting by a length, a well-deserved title.
8/9 yrs 26-32lb group. The two group favourites were drawn together in their heat. First up, John & Maggie Brearley’s WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold beat Dave Favell’s WCRCh VC Lovely Jubbly by ¾ length, but revenge was doled out by half a length in the one that mattered. WCRCh Feilly’s Gold 2nd, a good 3rd Sue Hoddinott’s Victor Quartermain only three lengths back, 4th Karen Bridge’s Bombalong.
Mark Etheridge Reporting.