Kindly Sponsored by Nature’s Menu
4 October 2015 at The Whippet Meadow, Detling – 240 yards bend
A lovely Indian Summer’s day and the ground getting closer to how we want it; credit to Ray Pond, Ian German and Garry Comber who have done the bulk of the preparations and ground work; improvements to the venue are set to continue over the winter months.
Today was a happy meeting; the trap team (Bill Henderson and Tony Mitchell) providing entertainment and professionalism; Ruth Mabb and Caroline Baldock (Caz) serving refreshments from Whippy’s Café and the smell of bacon enticing more racers to buy hot food. The raffle table was full of prizes and a special bottle of 20-year-old gin was raffled separately. The officials finished their day tired but comfortable that they too had enjoyed themselves which is always a good sign.
We started racing earlier than usual, at 11:45am, to ensure we finished with enough hours to effect the ‘take down’in daylight. The first rounds were set up to be less crowded but the racing hotted up in the later rounds with the finish-line video camera coming in very handy.
Well done to all those who ran and particularly the two whippets who were “made up” to Whippet Club Racing Champions.
The first, Angie Parker’s young lightweight Sapphire’s Peridot achieved her full coat in the 16lb final, while Liz Villis’ WCRCh Ameesha Little Ebs was a convincing trap-to-line winner of the 18lb group; WCRCh Jett Black ran a superb bend but couldn’t make up the ground he lost early on and the winner stayed on very nicely from the second bend. Two fast times for a little ‘un, she did 15:45 in her heatwhich suggested she’d have been a match for all of the other winners.
A popular win in the 20lb weight class and a very deserving one, Viv Thurman’s Cheeky Devil’s efforts to secure that elusive “other half” finally paid off after five second places. It’s always been a tough group, he has the likes of WCRCh Wonderwag and *Satin Secret to contend with as well as luck on the day and he battled through to gain his place as a Whippet Club Racing Champion – congratulations!
Gavin Cairns’ WCRCh Polly Flinders was very impressive in the 22lb group and the performance of Hot Right Now would normally have put her bang in contention for a weight class win, her calculated time (15.62) behind the winner was faster than the 20lb and 24lb winners.
Ryamber Something Extra did the Howards proud, winning a tight 24lb final by three-quarters of a length from WCRCh Satin Sunshine. The next final was a delight for Ian German when his dog Radar prevailed by two and a half lengths to gain his half coat in the n/e 26lb group, well done.
WCRCh Scallywag is another high-class champion running up a sequence of weight group wins; after impressive heat and semi-final wins, he was pretty well backed to win the 28lb final and duly prevailed by five lengths.
In the 30lbs, his kennel-mate WCRCh Nip ‘N Tuck had a tougher time of it before he could make it a double, he had two of the closest finishes with the durable 5-year-old WCRCh Markamy’s Black Bentley who made light of his age – an emotional day for his owners, the Bursey family, who watched with pride their dog run its last bend competition. Their heat was an extremely tight finish which was‘on the nod’ but a unanimous call from the judges and the video only used to confirm their decision. The re-match for the final didn’t disappoint; WCRChNip‘N Tuck broke first and stole a lead, WCRCh Markamy’s Black Bentley then used his strong middle pace to claw back from third with a superb bend (it was fascinating to watch him work for openings between dogs)which set up a stamina-sapping duel down the home straight. Cue an even closer finish, a majority decision this time and only the video could divide the two.
The day’s racing concluded with the 32lb final, a further weight class win for WCRCh Markamy’s Red Fred; bringing home the runner up Our Boy Ace with Harry Hotspur, the first Rescue whippet to run at the WCRA Championships for some years.
We finished nice and early, at a quarter to three and plenty of time after the presentation to do a long series of trials – overall a lovely day.
Report by Mark Etheridge.
Results
NE 16lb
- WCRCh SAPPHIRE’S PERIDOT (Sunlay Sapphires Are Me) – Chalkners Flaming Arrow x Sunlay Sapphire’s Gem. Owned by Angie Parker (time 16.40). Heat Win: *Sapphire’s Peridot.
NE 18lb
- WCRCh AMEESHA LITTLE EBS (Ameesha Pure Spirit) – Busby Babe x Stokecourcy Hazel at Ameesha. Time: 15.47 – Owned by E Villis
- WCRCh Jett Black
- *Great Fun
- Ameesha Red Rascal
Heat Wins: *Great Fun, WCRCh Ameesha Little Ebs.
NE 20lb
- WCRCh CHEEKY DEVIL (Devil Hall of Fame) – Busby Babe x Gypsy Cream. Time: 15.77 – Owned by: Viv Thurman
- Sapphire’s Carnelian
- *Satin Secret
- Ameesha Misty
Heat Wins: *Cheeky Devil, Sapphire’s Carnelian.
NE 22lb
- WCRCh POLLY FLINDERS (What A Beauty) – Chalkners Flaming Arrow x Our Little Dink. Time 15.23 – Owned by: Gavin Cairns
- Hot Right Now
- Blue Diamond
- Little Cracker.
Heat Wins: WCRCh Polly Flinders, Little Cracker, Blue Diamond, Hot Right Now.
Semi Final Winners: WCRCh Polly Flinders, Hot Right Now.
NE 24lb
- *RYAMBER SOMETHING EXTRA (Ryamber Keep on Running) – Chalkners Flaming Arrow x Running in the Family at Ryamber. Time: 15.65 – Owned by: Christine Howard
- WCRCh Satin Sunshine
- Raffles
- WCRCh The Poet
Heat Wins: WCRCh Satin Sunshine, Ryamber Something Extra, WCRCh The Poet, *Sydney.
Semi Final Winners: WCRCh Satin Sunshine, Ryamber Something Extra.
NE 26lb
- *RADAR (Boy of the Mill) – Run At Mill x Eddie’s Belle of the Ball. Time: 15.39 – Owned by: Ian German
- *Ryamber Fairy Nuff
- Ryamber Likely Lad
Heat Wins: Radar, Ryamber Likely Lad.
NE 28lb
- WCRCh SCALLYWAG (Inspired Twister of Carlstream) – Drawn To Me x Carlstream Popstar. Time: 15.11 – Owned by: Pat Gant
- *Max Attraction
- Gold Edition
- WCRCh Shakira (withdrawn).
Heat Wins: Gold Edition, WCRCh Scallywag (fastest time of the day, 15.08), WCRCh Shakira. Semi Final Winners: WCRCh Scallywag, WCRCh Shakira.
NE 30lb
- WCRCh NIP ‘N TUCK (Goodad Arch Event) – Chalkners Flaming Arrow x Goodad Star Addition. Time: 15.11 – Owned by: Pat Gant.
- WCRCh Markamy’s Black Bentley
- *Star Attraction
- Ted’s Bonny Lad
Heat Wins: *Star Attraction, WCRCh Nip ‘N Tuck.
NE 32lb
- WCRCh MARKAMY’S RED FRED (Goodad Another Citizen) – Chalkners Flaming Arrow x Goodad Star Addition. Time: 15.23 – Owned by: D & S Bursey
- Our Boy Ace
- Harry Hotspur
Heat Wins: WCRCh Markamy’s Red Fred, Harry Hotspur.