Beagle Dog Trophy Race

Yesterday was the Beagle Dog Trophy Race. There were four contenders :

Murphy (Recent Derby Winner)
Milo (Last Year’s Trophy Winner & 2nd in Recent Derby)
Bailey (Only 2nd visit to the racing)
Benny (First time at the racing this year)

When Milo arrived he didn’t know it was an important race for him today. He had won the trophy last year and was supposed to bring it back so that it could be presented to this year’s winner. Poor Milo – his mum & dad hadn’t even got his name engraved on it yet!!! His mum was sent home to fetch the trophy and a little bird tells us that she was frantically polishing the dust off with her jumper en-route back to the track!

Based upon past performances I think we all knew it was between Murphy and Milo, but they are so close in ability that it was anyone’s guess who the winner would be. It was a close race but Milo won, keeping the trophy for a second year. Murphy was a close second followed by Bailey then Benny.

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Milo is presented with his trophy

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Milo, Murphy and Bailey

After the important race of the day was over we just had a series of fun runs. First Beanie had a race against three bitches and won by several yards. So a promising start.

Milo’s little sister Jess was a bit naughty in her first race and started playfully jostling race favorite Inca half way down the track. Of course, Inca was only too happy to abandon the race for a bit of mischief. When it was time for Jess’s next race her mum held her back for a few seconds so that Jess was out of harms way and couldn’t scupper the other dog’s chances. Well, that was the plan, but in actual fact Jess rose to the challenge and came VERY close to winning. She finished in second place despite starting several yards behind the pack!

Next Beanie was up against Milo and Murphy and got well and truly trounced by them. In recent weeks she’s been keeping very close to them and loosing by less than a dog’s length. But today she was probably several yards behind them. She won her next race, but she was quite sluggish. She made up speed later in the races, but she started slower than normal every time. It could be because she was pooped after Saturday’s mega run in the park. But we are keeping a close eye just in case her recent change to a raw diet isn’t suiting her as well as we thought!

We finished up with a fun run with all the dogs racing together. Murphy was first, followed by Beanie. Although to be fair Milo never does well in the fun runs as he always seems to be more interested in naughtiness and nonsense on his way down the track!.

More Beagle Racing

Today we had another handicap race. A 170 yard race which is great for Beanie as she’s got good stamina. The dogs were all weighed and the lighter dogs were given a 1 yard per pound head start. Beanie is the lightest dog at 22lbs. Murphy (the Derby winner and officially the fastest dog) was the heaviest at 39 lbs (I think that’s 3 lbs lighter than he was at the last handicap race!?).That would have given Beanie a 17 yard head start over Murphy, but Beanie and Murphy didn’t race each other until the final, and in that race we all agreed to ‘race rules’ which meant that the biggest head start a dog can have is 10 yards.

Beanie won the race, which was no surprise to anyone. However, Murphy made up quite a bit of ground – I’m not sure how much but enough to put him in second place.

We were interested to see how Beanie would do if we reversed the handicap. So this time around Murphy had a 10 yard head start over Beanie. Beanie likes to be out in front and we thought she’d run faster if she started from behind. And sure enough, she managed to maintain the distance between her and Murphy this time around. Which meant that she and Murphy were running at pretty much the same speed. Graham suggested a scratch race between Beanie and Murhpy just to see what would happen. Murphy won by less than a dog length.

We’ve noticed a big improvement in Beanie’s speed every week since she started racing. For about three weeks now she’s been getting close to Murphy, but the gap is closing VERY slowly. She’s widening the gap between her and some of the other dogs, but Murphy’s holding on to his lead. We suspect that Murphy is getting fitter and faster every week so our little pup is going to have to work very hard to catch him :)

We also got a little bit of good news with regards to drag hunting. One of the Whippet owners told us about a lady that’s absolutely nuts about hunting with dogs. She’s not too well at the moment, but once she’s better he’s promised to put us in touch with her. Beanie absolutely loves the racing, and we’re sure the sprinting is great for her health (well certainly you can’t beat sprinting for building fitness in people). But as she’s a Beagle we feel that she needs a good bit of long distance running with a pack too. She likes to run with us, but from her point of view you just can’t beat a pack of baying Beagles and something smelly to chase!

Points Make Prizes

Today’s Beagle Racing at Inch Farm, Kincardine didn’t have quite the excitement and drama of last Sunday’s Derby, but it was still a fun day out with (for the most part) great weather.

Three new racers joined the gang: Hamish, who was cheated of his chance to race a fortnight ago when torrential rain flooded the track, and Bailey and Pebble. It’s customary for one of the newbies to do the draw for the initial heats (I had to do it the first time Beanie raced), and this week that honor fell to Hamish’s dad.

The draw put Beanie up against Murphy and Milo, but there were a couple of surprises in store. The first was that poor Milo would be starting 6 yards behind the other dogs. Why? Well today’s racing was for points (more on that later), and since Milo had won the previous points match held earlier in the year, he was hit with the handicap. That was the first surprise. The second was that the battery powered motor that pulls the lure was about to have one of its funny spells..

Everything seemed fine at the start, but towards the end of the race the dogs started getting uncomfortably close to the lure. So close in fact, that the leader Murphy caught it and stopped to examine his prey.

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Bad move, because Beanie and the other dogs just kept on going! Murphy quickly dropped the lure and rejoined the race but it was too late; Beanie crossed the line first, winning her heat.

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Our pup found the whole situation very confusing though!

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I think Hamish found his race quite confusing too. As the other Beagles sped off, he was left at the start line, wondering why they were so keen to chase a silly bundle of inedible red and white tape. Fortunately, a family member was on hand to encourage him down the track:

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By the time his second race came along he was starting to get the idea, and crossed the finish line without assistance. Smart boy! Fellow newbies Bailey and Pebble also found their racing feet quickly, and one of them (Bailey I think?) even finished second in one of his races. What a great start!

Beanie’s chums Nollaig, Breac and Tiarnach also did very well, despite a little naughtiness early on, some of which was caught on camera..

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Tiarnach pulls up alongside Nollaig and tugs at her vest

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Job done! Now for a quick get away!

Naughty boy! But he still made it through to the final, along with his brother Breac.

Beanie came up against Murphy again in her second heat, and this time there was no hiccup with the lure to deprive him of a win, but Beanie came second and got her place in the final:

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In the final Murphy once again got the win, with Beanie in second place, Tiarnach in third and Breac in fourth.

Experienced racer Sam was also handicapped – just like Milo – after a great performance in an earlier points match. Again like Milo, this kept him out of the final, but it didn’t keep him from getting a rosette. He stormed through the field to win the consolation race.

Before we headed home, race organizer Graham told us that Beanie’s second place was actually the most desirable result from a points perspective. It adds to the dog’s total without incurring the penalty of the handicap in the next race. At the end of the season, it’s the dog with the highest total that gets the prize – the number of wins is irrelevant. Maybe so, but I reckon it’s more fun to just plain win races, and the season isn’t over yet!