We had time trials at Beagle Racing yesterday, and due to the publicity the racing received on the Scottish Beagle Club website there was a great turnout: 17 dogs in all, 7 of them total racing newbies.

To help the new dogs learn the ropes, they were each paired with a more experienced racer for the trials. In most cases the experienced dog comfortably won his/her mini-race, though there were some surprises:

Beanie flew down the track..

.. concentrating hard on the lure

But her apprentice still crossed the finish line – a fine achievement for a first-timer

Veteran Milo took it easy, giving his understudy an unexpected win

Abbey makes a welcome return to the track, and she’s looking good!

Dudley runs with Murphy, and behaves himself – this time

I don’t recall this guy’s name, but he’s the biggest Beagle I’ve ever seen

Biggles also had the responsibility of leading a newbie, and although his charge lost his way…

.. he kept focused on the lure all the way..

.. even though he’s still green behind the ears (well, tan colored really, but you know what I mean)

Some more shots of the time trials:

When the results were in, Beanie was easily the fastest dog there. She’d run the 150 yard course in 12.62 secs, nearly a full second faster than her closest rival, which apparently is the equivalent of some 15 lengths distance. Biggles ran well for a youngster too – he was closer to the chasing pack than they were to Beanie, if that makes sense!

The trials were followed by conventional races. As expected, Beanie made light work of her heat:

Murphy had more of a race on his paws, but still delivered:

As did Milo:

And he was duly rewarded!

One of the heats was very close indeed:

In the final, Beanie was once again knocked out of the race by “Disaster Dudley”. That’s the third time in as many weeks she’s been pushed out of the final by relatives (once by Chief, twice by Dudley). It’s definitely taking the pleasure out of racing for her, and for us.

Dudley scores another hit

Murphy cruises on past the chaos for an easy win

In the consolation race, little Biggles did extremely well. Running almost side-by-side, he and Milo opened up a good lead over the other racers and at the finish line he just got ahead to win! This was the first time he’d won a race without the help of any mid-race drop outs, and he gave the lure a little shake before running over to me for his post- race treat.

We hung around for a while after the races, and though the light was very poor I snapped a couple of shots of the whippets:

When the track was free, we gave Beanie one more race with Biggles, so she could finish the day on a high note.

Next week is the Caledonian Thistle Open, and although it’s a big day for whippets, the Beagles still have their slot at the earlier time of 10.30am. Unfortunately we’ve decided to give it a miss, but it should be a great day out for all the competitors.