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.
the biggest beagle you have ever seen is called thomas its a great photo is their any chance i could get a copy of it (i will pay for it )sorry not to see you their next week.best wishes john and audrey.
Hi John & Audrey,
All the photos are up on Flickr and are freely available. Just click on the photo you want to open the Flickr page, then click “All Sizes” (strip of options just above the photo) then choose the size you want & download it. Cheers!
If you think Thomas is big you should meet our William! The vet assures us he’s pure beagle, but he’s the size of a small Lab. When you see him standing next to a ‘normal’ beagle, the other dog looks TINY, particularly if she’s a bitch. We always say you get the runt of the litter then you get the William at the other end of the scale :) I’ll add a picture to your guestbook so you can get an idea of just how big he is!
Hi There,
After doing my searching on the Scottish Beagle Club website I came across your fantastic blog and thought I would drop you a courtesy post. Our website has a blog and we received a couple of shots of Alfie and Bella racing recently and because the photos actually belong to you they asked me to mention it on my site. I hope you are comfortable with this – great pics and I am hoping to head along on Sunday to see what it is all about! Gemma
Thanks for letting us know. I took a look at your blog – it looks great! Anything you can do to help promote Beagle Racing will be much appreciated. And you’re very welcome to use our photos whenever you like.