Heart Of England PWRC at Shuttington on 12th October 2025: 240 yards bends, veterans 140 yards at ½yd/lb plus yd/yr
Ooh it was foggy. Under a hundred yards’ visibility at start time, yes you could see the bend running-rail from the finish line but beyond was a blur, and as for seeing the traps properly from the bend lure machine, forget it. Plan A, starting with bends as per normal obviously wasn’t going to work so on to Plan B (start with the veterans) with Plan C waiting in the wings (move the bend lure machine into midfield) if things didn’t improve. So we started off with race 41.
Although the fog was clearing slowly, very slowly, looking from the lure machine for the straight you couldn’t see the traps or Gary, our starter. So, he moved about twenty yards up the track – problem solved, Gavin our lure driver was in business. Veteran heats completed, we gave the oldies a little break, then ran their finals and they were all tucked up in bed by lunchtime. By now we could see a little more, so Plan C wasn’t needed and we started the bend racing at 12.40.
What a great team! Once again, flawless racing, despite all the uncertainty early on we ran the last race at 3.45pm with no reruns and no equipment issues. Underpinning this has been week after week of working on equipment and getting it spot on, and these past three big meetings, two bend Championships and the Trish Gilfeather Mort Memorial Open have been absolutely superb. The folk at Heart of England Club, not least the ladies running the canteen, should be truly proud.
We had two new Racing Champions, WCRCh Let’s Go Nuts and WCRCh Joe Cocker, well done. Through the murk you could just about see some brilliant bend-racing.
Veterans
The weight groups were much more even this time. The 14-20lb group was won convincingly by Liz Villis’ WCRCh VC Ameesha Summer Rocket, what a prolific winner she’s been. 2nd was the Hunters’ WCRCh My Girl Enfys,3rd Sam and Paul Priest’s Scratchybrat.
The 21-23lb group, Jacquie’s and Dean’s WCRCh VC Glad All Over was another impressive winner, when in tune she’s practically unbeatable in veterans. Today she sailed home from Avril Caunce’s VC Ms Moneypenny and Sarah Layfield’s Winterfell A Dash Crazy, neither disgraced.
In the 24-27lb final, John & Sheila Strain’s The Mighty Finn prevailed by 1½ lengths over fellow heat winner, Jeff Hill’s To Dare Is To Do, to make that three Veteran Sprints on the trot. Both have had terrific seasons, Close up 3rd was Colin & Tina Jennings’ Machine Gun Kelly and 4th Carole and Dave Cuttler’s WCRCh VC Call Me Enchanting.
28-32lb. This final was very much a case of “new versus old” with Colin and Tina’s fine bend-racer WCRCh Chiefton Challenger having his first outing as a veteran against two 8-y-o’s and one 9-y-o, none pushovers.
Dave Favell’s WCRCh VC Lovely Jubbly won heat 1 from Sue Hoddinott’s Victor Quartermaine, while the Brearley’s grand old stager WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold, the oldest dog running today, edged out WCRCh Chiefton Challenger half a length. I wondered whether the new kid on the block would reverse the placings in the final, but in a fine race, Lovely Jubbly prevailed by a head from WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold, WCRCh Chiefton Challenger again half a length back and Victor Quartermaine only two lengths further down.
Four well-respected and much-loved veterans retired today. VC Ms Moneypenny, WCRCh VC Feilly’s Gold, Christine Howard’s VC Ryamber Stan The Man and Denise Pitcher’s VC JayJay; all four whippets competitive to the last and retiring sound, credits to their owners.
Championship Weight Classes
The 16lb group was a match-race between Mark Jervis’ WCRCh Cheadle Heart and Terry Wheeler’s WCRCh(s) Mamma Mia, Cheadle Heart’s heat time eight spots faster, just over a length, In the final she trapped fast to lead decisively at halfway, although Mamma Mia stayed on well to cut the gap to 2½ lengths at the line.
The 18lb heats were each taken by the four finalists. Sarah Layfield’s talented WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic and Liz Villis’ *Ameesha Little Devil each scored big wins while Liz’s Ameesha Atomic Blonde beat Avril’s Kissy Suzuki who was subsequently withdrawn injured. The fourth heat, Liz’s Ameesha Wild Orchid beat last time’s winner, Ian Tegart’s *Fantazi Just Like Heaven by 1½ lengths, passing her on the outside on the second bend.
Two close semi-finals saw WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic lead home Ameesha Atomic Blonde, edging out *Fantazi Just Like Heaven; and *Ameesha Little Devil beat Ameesha Wild Orchid by a neck. In the final, WCRCh Winterfell Tangfastic showed she loves a bend, winning in good time from improving youngster Ameesha Wild Orchid, Ameesha Atomic Blonde and *Ameesha Little Devil.
The 20lb group was again led by WCRCh Villiers Rocketman. First up, a solo run in his heat was eight lengths faster than anything else in the group. In the first semi final, Rebecca’s little star showed devastating early pace to beat Graham Gilfeather’s consistent Bruce Almighty by five lengths while in semi-final no. 2, George Whalley’s Here Comes Me Son beat Jon and Maggie Brearley’s Bertie’s Gold two lengths. The final was a spectacular display, late out of the box then that early speed to lead before the first bend, game over. Bertie’s Gold ran a great race for 2nd five lengths down, 3rd Bruce Almighty and 4th Here Comes Me Son.
Mike and Ilid’s WCRCh Just Red similarly dominated the 22lb group and for good measure recorded the two fastest times of the day. Nothing came close, three wins of 5½, 8 and 5 lengths. The group likely eased a little with last time’s other three finalists absent but it was still an impressive performance. Good efforts though from Chris Booth’s Cheadle Bringer 2nd, Sarah Layfield’s *Winterfell What The Heck 3rd after missing his break and Christine Padmore’s Chew Macca 4th.
The four 24lb finalists (Denise’s *Foxie Flyer, Vince and Sarah’s *Monochrome Magik, Nicola’s WCRCh Gimme Delight, Rebecca’s Villiers Mighty Mouse) all won their heats. Semi-final 1 saw *Foxie Flyer narrowly beat Villiers Mighty Mouse, in semi-final no. 2 WCRCh Gimme Delight won impressively from *Monochrome Magic to become clear favourite in the final. In the race that mattered, the hitherto unbeaten *Foxie Flyer was fast away but WCRCh Gimme Delight passed inside him on the first bend and held on by two lengths. Close up 3rd, only half a length further down was *Monochrome Magik and another half-length back, Villiers Mighty Mouse, it was a great race.
The 26lb heats saw wins for Jo Lock’s Sea The Sunrise, the Harts’ admirable WCRCh Scrappy Doo on what I guess is his last foray on bend before turning veteran, Lynne Holmes’ *One Scotch Too Many (last time’s winner) and the Strains’ WCRCh Return Of The Mac. The first semi looked the tougher and was quicker; Sea The Sunrise clearly had his trapping boots on and led home Lynne’s boy by two lengths, while in the second semi, WCRCh Return Of The Mac edged out Terry Wheeler’s Here Hugo by a length, WCRCh Scrappy Doo bowing out an honourable 3rd.
Now could *Sea The Sunrise replicate his earlier win? Of course he could, fast away and although *One Scotch Too Many made valiant efforts to get on terms, he had 2½ lengths in hand at the line. Five lengths further back was WCRCh Return Of The Mac in 3rd with Here Hugo a length further in 4th.
Hopefully we’ll see the first two renew their rivalry next year, I love a good bend dog and they’ve been brought along very carefully.
As last time, the 28lb group seemed fated, attracting more than its fair share of bad luck, dogs out through seasonal break, non-finishing and injury. Gwen’s *Let’s Go Nuts won her heat well from Philip and Crystal’s *Danger Dash, then had a solo semi-final; Mark & Charlotte Bursey’s WCRCh Mach’s Kamikaze Mars had a solo then won a stirring race with *Danger Dash in their semi. The lead changed twice, *Danger Dash slow away but early pace meant he led the first bend, then the winner took over. With WCRCh Mach’s Kamikaze Mars sadly injuring a toe, this left just two in the final, where WCRCh Let’s Go Nuts became the first new Racing Champion, *Danger Dash not disgraced 4 lengths down.
The 30lb group had only two dogs but the quality made up for it. George Whalley’s *Joe Cocker and Gary Hogan’s WCRCh Gunn’s Donovan. Heat times were 15.63 and 15.71 respectively, eight spots’ difference again. Come the final, they had a terrific battle all the way round with the inside dog WCRCh Joe Cocker prevailing by a length, effectively replicating their heat times. A well-deserved title, he’s been knocking on the door for a while.
32lb group. Heat times again foretold the result. Karen Bridge’s youngster *Rush About put up much the faster time and in the final came home five lengths up to win his “half”. Mark & Charlotte’s *Machs White Toed Brodes ran a game race for 2nd ahead of Graham’s pair *Gimme Some Action and WCRCh Gimme It All.
All in all, a great day, a competent, confident and happy team, a pleasure to work with all of you. A wonderful atmosphere from start to finish. I thought the setting-up on Saturday was thoroughly efficient but the clear-up was even more amazing. Within minutes only the traps, lure machines and marquee were left, and not long after that, they’d gone too.
Mark Etheridge reporting
Dowload this write up as a PDF
