All Our Yesterdays Part 3

At Ambleside sports the heat made the going really tough on the hounds. And what an amusing sight we saw on the finish of the maidens . Miss Olga, Skipper and Hillcrest were chasing in close order down the home fell when much to the disgust of the supporters and the amusement of hundreds of unbiased onlookers all three stopped in their tracks as they crossed a spring. Their stay was only momentary but it was long enough for Mr Smithson’s Ireby hound Cruiser to nip through and take the flag.

That was in 1963 and Dickie is still talking about it.

So far this season the use of ‘official rags’ in the Whitehaven Area appears to have undergone a satisfactory trial but they came in for criticism from a number of maiden owners at Calderbridge on Saturday. The first of the four trails were a right old shambles with only five of the 13 maidens claiming tickets. The rags later came in for close inspection by several Whitehaven Officials.

When the favourite was declared the winner of the pup trail it would not of been accepted by Border followers with the same equanimity with which their H T A counterparts accepted the following news.

From which I conclude the Border hound men are better disciplined than H T A   and their punters poorer sportsmen. incidentally , there was nothing astonishing about the decision in the puppy trail ; the hound that got its head over the tape first  got the ticket – even a punter who had a ‘packet’ on the second pup told me that.

At Arlecdon, on Monday, I was standing near the ‘kenners’ when I heard ‘IKE’ name correctly all the leading pups out on the trail. He even correctly named ‘Windale Lad’ which was more than his catcher could do when his hound was over the tape.

Here is a poser:

In 1955 the puppy championship was tied between Mirabelle and Flying Imp with 21 wins apiece.

In the Nov issue of the ‘News ‘ it was reported that Mirabelle bt Flying Imp on the last day of the season to win the Championship by one.

In the next issue it was reported that after a meeting of the Whitehaven area a trail at Wath Brow on Aug 24th,which Mirabelle won  was declared non championship, due to late advertising, therefore her wins were reduced to 20.

Therefore the Puppy Championship for 1955 should show a tie between the two hounds mentioned on 20 wins but it records a tie on 21 wins . Why?