[Note: when the above slide show stops, click the close box in the top right to start it again!]

There was a huge turnout for the racing today, and it was accompanied by gloriously hot, sunny weather. In fact the afternoon sun was so hot that a hose was set up – so owners could give their dogs a cooling shower between races. Even then some dogs had to retire early!

It was a great day for Beanie. She ran hard…

…and came second in both of her heats, just losing out each time to race veteran and powerhouse Sam. Here’s a clip of one of her heats:

(If the video doesn’t play, try clicking here)

She made it through to the final, where she had to compete against not only Sam, but the other two speed kings Murphy and Milo.  The three boys ran a very close, fast race but Murphy had the edge and claimed the crown. Beanie came in last, but there’s no shame in that – she was up against the (current) three fastest Beagles in the club after all!

Victory clearly tastes sweet for Murphy!

Our friends Kathleen and Neil entered 5 of their Beagles this time. One of them bagged a rosette for winning the consolation race – and it was his first ever time at the racing! I think he could do very well in the coming weeks.

Once the serious racing was over, there was the traditional all-together “fun” run. With so many Beagles (and one cuddly Tibetan Terrier) on the start line, video was the only way to go:

(If the video doesn’t play, try clicking here)

Sam came in first, followed by Murphy. Beanie came in third – another great result for our little pup. When I stopped filming and went to catch her, I had trouble finding her amidst all the other Beagles. Then I spotted Sam and Murphy having a tug of war with the lure (just ‘cos it’s stopped moving doesn’t mean it’s dead!), and there she was, trying to grab her own piece of the prey. She’s definitely got the racing bug, big time!

I took a lot of shots of the racing and the fun dog show afterwards. There’s no room to post them all up here, so instead I put some of the better ones in a slideshow at the top of this post. If your dog’s in there and you’d like a full size copy of a piccie, or a full quality copy of either of the vids, please just drop me a line at BeanieTheBeagle@googlemail.com!