A first for Beanie AND Biggles

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Susan

Despite a poor forecast it was another lovely sunny day for Beagle racing. Since the Scottish Beagle Club website has been advertising the racing we’ve had a steady stream of newcomers. The nice thing is that lots of young dogs are now taking part.

A points race was scheduled for today. There are several points races throughout the season. As well as the normal winners rosettes, the dogs are awarded points according to their finishing position:

1st Place 4 points
2nd Place 3 points
3rd Place 2 points
4th Place 1 point
5th Place 1 point

The dog that comes in first is handicapped at the next points race and has to start 6 yards behind the other dogs. His handicap is gradually reduced by a yard a week until he’s running from scratch again – unless of course he manages another first place in which case it’s back to a 6 yard handicap. After the first few points races all the fast dogs are typically running with a handicap giving the slower dogs a chance to win some points. At the end of the season a trophy is awarded to the dog with the most points.

According to the schedule most of the season’s points races are also weight handicapped (in keeping with the rules in Whippet racing). Larger dogs are considered to have a big advantage over small dogs so Whippet racing uses weight handicaps to ensure that all the dogs get a fair chance. The lighter dogs start the race one yard per pound ahead of the heavier dogs.

All the Beagles lined up for their weigh in before racing kicked off. Beanie is still the same trim 23lbs as last season. The other Beagles tend to range between 30 – 40+ lbs so last year Beanie easily won all of the handicap races – she started 10 yards ahead of all the fast dogs! We were surprised to discover that Biggles is only 25lbs – he’s much chunkier than Beanie and is even slightly taller and longer. But I guess it’s mostly bone and bone is very light.

Whilst we love our dogs to win races the weight handicap system does give them a huge (and unnecessary) advantage. Despite being small they are fast (particularly Beanie) and they do enjoy the challenge of a tough race. So we weren’t disappointed when Graham and Jill ruled that the dogs would be running from scratch (i.e. all starting level).

Beanie wins her first heat comfortably

Biggles comes in second in his heat against favorite Murphy

Beanie had a tough second heat race. She got boxed in against the barrier by Holly who was running shoulder to shoulder with her for the whole course. Beanie couldn’t get past her to the lure, and Holly only had eyes for her dad on the finish line and was making a bee line straight for him!

Beanie (red) boxed in by a super-fast Holly

But she manages to find an extra gear at the last moment and is soon back on course for the lure and a first place.

Another first place for Beanie

In his second heat Biggles is beaten into second place again by Murphy

The line up for the final was Beanie, Biggles (yay!!!), Murphy and Holly. It was close, but Beanie (white) won the race beating Murphy (red) by about half a length. Little Biggles (blue) brought up the rear in 4th place.

Beanie first, Murhpy second, Holly third and Biggles fourth

Newcomer Todd did extremely well, winning the consolation race – and showing great promise by ‘killing’ the lure.

Todd catches the lure…

…and kills it

After the first points race of the season Beanie is in the lead with 4 points, Murphy 3 points, Holly 2 points and Biggles and Todd 1 point each. But next time Beanie will be starting from 6 yards behind the other dogs!

Murphy, Biggles, Beanie, Todd and Holly

You’ll find lots more pictures of today’s racing here.

Lure Coursing

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Susan

Check out this video of Deerhound Lure Coursing – we’ve been in touch with the organiser and she says we’re welcome to take Beanie and Biggles along to have a go. They will LOVE it!!

More here:

Beagle Racing – Time Trials

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Paul

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.