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 THE last big event of the season, the HTA October Trails are to be staged by the Whitehaven Area at Kirkland Leaps.
The meeting on Saturday, October 2 will be a welcome return into the spotlight for the west Cumbrian venue.
Kirkland Leaps staged the Dog Produce of 1975 but hasn’t been used since then for any of the major trails.
Anybody wanting a run round the course should bear in mind Wednesday, August 25 because the Ennerdale Show trails will be held over the planned October meeting terrain.
We start our look back at the week with Wednesday’s meeting at Cold Fell when Dairy Diamond, the 2009 puppy champion showed she retains plenty of class and ability with a clever win in the senior trail.
The race was spoiled by a scale when Show Girl was out in front and later it was Chardonnay who also suffered from whatever affects the hounds on this particular trail. She also stopped and lost ground.
Conditions were appalling but Dairy Diamond stuck to her task gamely and on the finish she raced home well to beat Alliance by about 12 yards with Miss Molly filling third spot. Show Girl did exceptionally well to get back into the tickets in fifth place.
After her victory at the Festival and this unlucky follow-up run there’s little doubt that she is back in title contention with most to fear from kennel-mate Darling, also coming back to top form. All the pressure seems to be on Huntsman’s Dazzler to match the Kendal duo.
Enoch had won the puppy trail at the Festival and was fancied to follow-up but was beaten by a head in a thrilling finish by Night Spirit with Ryan’s Lady Anna close up in third.
The maiden trail was marred by a disqualification after the first dog across the line, Ginger Lou, had the race taken away for taking a short cut.. The Petersen and Oldcorn kennel's representative Cavendish, who had only been a couple of lengths behind, was promoted to first place with Celtic Warrior and Silent Witness promoted as well.
In a competitive open restricted trail the first three tickets went to veterans. Whitby Steps stuck to the task very gamely to hold off a strong challenge by One Man with My Girl in third.
There were trails at Latrigg Tops and Oulton on Thursday with one of the senior title challengers chalking-up another victory. 
That was at Oulton where Penny and Kevin Swanton’s Darling took advantage of a mistake at the last road by Westgate Kyza and needed no second bidding to go on and beat the former champion by five lengths. High Challenge was back in third.
Maurice and Hannah Bewley’s Lady Agenda is something of a course specialist and with only nine rivals was a good winner of the puppy trail from Sambo.
There was a good battle for the honours in the open restricted where Bon Jovi and Busy Night had been level coming out of the wood. There wasn’t much in it but Bon Jovi just had the edge on the run-in and won by a length and a half.
In the other meeting at Latrigg Tops there was a repeat win for the 2009 victor in the senior trail. Although Jenny’s Dream had set a cracking pace from the slip he could only manage fourth in the end.
When they showed for the slog up the final hill to the line it was Mayfair who had moved into the lead and she was able to maintain her advantage all the way to beat Davina and Westgate Renney.
Only six juniors contested the puppy trail but there was a good performance from Colleen to take the spoils. The lead had changed hands several times before Colleen asserted to go on by 20n yards and beat Jacob McClink with Westgate Gypsy in third. These three had pulled well clear of the other three runners.
There was virtually a blanket finish to the puppy maidens when several youngsters showed with a chance. In the end five hounds virtually crossed together and it was quite a job sorting out the order as only a couple of lengths would cover the whole five of them.
 Christine Brownlee’s Momentum got the verdict ahead of Temperance with Kingdom taking third, and Colourful and Tiagress also involved.
Following the success of Colleen in the pups the Rosthwaite partnership of Stanley and Carole Jackson, David and Brian Loan completed the double with Courtesy in the open restricted.
Four hounds had pulled clear with Courtesy leading Huntsman's Ruler, Toytown and Sundown. But when they came to fight-out the finish it was Courtesy and Toytown who had it to themselves They battled hard to the line with Courtesy doing enough to win by a length.
A well-attended and successful meeting at Shap on Saturday helped to make up for the disappointment of the recent trails at Helton.
In the seniors all of Huntsman's Dazzler's hard work driving the trail was undone in the last few yards, when he was overtaken by Show Girl, who sprinted in to win by three lengths, and these two were well clear of Westgate Kyza and the chasing group.
The senior maidens was a very competitive race which ended in a hard-fought finish, and after lengthy consultation the result was a dead-heat between Not Now Jack and Truthful, with Spot On and the other ticket hounds close behind.
The pups attracted only seven runners, but they ran it well and produced a great finish in which Jacob McClink beat Colourful by two lengths, with a similar distance to Poker-Face, completing a 1 - 2 - 3 for the Hill Breeze x Seven Up litter.
In the open non winners Alec and Jackie Steele's Shahdi went one better than her two puppy kennel-mates when finishing fast to come from fourth place to beat Denial, Temperance and Red Pike in a close thing for the first four places. 
There were no complaints from the connections of Denial, who collected another five points towards the ONW title!
Sundown led all the way down the finish of the open restricted to beat Jordan's Tyke and Ms Dynamite in a fast-run trail.
At Wath Brow Molly Malone was strongly fancied to land the senior trail but in the end had to play second best to Valhalla who was a clear winner with Miss Molly back in third place.
In the pups Medwyn also won comfortably Ryan’s Lady Anna with previous course winner Night Spirit in third.
Celtic Spirit finished very well in the maidens to win from Roulette and Celtic Warrior while Black Poppy also reserved her best top last as she surged away to win the open restricted from Amy Jo and Mang Nix.
The third meeti9ng of the day was at Gamelsby, the last of the season for this particular venue and to recognise the occasion rosettes and prize money were awarded tot he first ten hounds in each race.
In the seniors Darling finished a long way clear to put herself firmly back into the title race while a good battle for second place went to Infinity ahead of Quiet Swallow.
Only seven pups contested the junior trail but Cracking Future and Sambo served-up a good finish for the red ticket, while the others weren’t far behind and had their own tight race for the minors. Cracking Future just had enough in reserve to win by two lengths.
Busy Night dominated the open restricted trail, leading from a long way-out and she kept going well to beat Cracking Thore by eight lengths.
Sunday was a real shocker weather-wise so they were the real hardy-souls who braved the elements at Bank Farm, Lorton for a meeting which comprised of four trails and an all-in.
Jenny’s Dream seems to thrive in the wet and he obliged nicely in the senior trail for keen young owner Jenny Bland.
Having showed with the lead he got his head down and battled for home, beating kennel-mate Huntsman’s Charm by two lengths. Courtesy kept on well to finish third, a further two lengths behind the runner-up.
Only eight contested the senior maiden and three of them had opened-up a handy lead. Coming into view to battle-out the finish Joanna Satterthwaite’s Thorn Girl began to assert and had enough in the tank to beat Davina by two lengths.
The Legal Beagle had been the third of the breakaway trio but faltered on the run-in and could eventually only finish fifth. It was Lingbeck Shadow who came through strongly at the end to grab third.
Unfortunately the puppy trail was spoiled by some of the youngsters veering off course in the closing stages. Those that kept a straight line prospered.
The two leaders Colleen and Altanic vent off to the left and could not be judged so Huntsman's Future was awarded the race after staying on line and past the judge.
Westgate Gypsy was also guilty of going off and it was Momentum who stayed true for second place with Big Mac in third.
Veteran Outrageous continues to show she loves her racing so Brian and John Graham will have no problems with keeping her going. An open maiden winner over the course a year ago she absolutely raced away with the open restricted on this occasion as the opposition couldn’t live with her. Alles Springs was nearest but a long way back at the finish with Brannigan in third.
Unfortunately after the shocking weather on Sunday and Monday, the trails organised for Cold Fell on Monday had to be cancelled because the beck was much too high.
On Tuesday they raced at Oulton and there was a shock in the seniors where Darling couldn’t get into the race and Westgate Kyza was beaten on the line by a short head as Levi came with a late charge to win it.
Six or seven of the pups were in with a chance in he last field but it was Toffee De Luxe who finished the best to beat Waver Rock by half a length.
It was a similar story in the open restricted when eight or nine of the 21 runners could have sealed the win. But it was High Patrol who came through well to beat Birkby Tan by a length.
Meanwhile following on from the Whitehaven Area's policy of letting the incoming trailer "walk through" the slipping hounds, many of the other areas have adopted the same policy.
Therefore, to bring everybody into line, HTA chairman Barry Laidler is suggesting that, where possible, a gap of about five yards is left in the middle of the line of hounds at the slip, and that the trailer walks up to, or even through, this gap.
The Starter must stand sufficiently far forward so that all handlers can see his flag. The signal for starting remains the raising and dropping of the flag.
We finish on some sad news. Last week Ken Grey, of bookmakers Grey Bros, passed away following a short illness. Ken will be missed by the whole community, and deepest and most sincere sympathy go out to his wife Lynda and his family.
Latest results in the Border Association have been as follows:-
Tuesday 13th July, Walton Moss.
Seniors: 1, Spring Dream; 2, Telltale; 3, Fire Dream; 4, Marshman; 5, Newman. 5 ran, time 22.06.
Senior Graded: 1, Jackpot; 2, Summer Virtue; 3, Fire Cracker; 4, Houxty Bank; 5, Georgie's Girl; 6, Fire Ranger. 8 ran, time 21.37.
Pups: 1, Spring Rhythm; 2, Eagle Heart; 3, Denman; 4, Dynamic. 4 ran, time 13.31.
Graded Pups: 1, Spring Roamer; 2, Delta Diva. 2 ran.
Thursday 15th July, Edges Green.
Seniors: 1, Jackpot; 2, Marshman; 3, Spring Dream. 3 ran, time 26.04.
Pups: 1, Denman; 2, Spring Rhythm; 3, Spring Rambler; 4, Class Lass; 5, Dynamic. five finished, 6 ran, time 17.23.
Open Graded: 1, Houxty Bank; 2, Summer Virtue; 3, Spring Roamer; 4, Castle Cairn; 5, Castle Corrie; 6, Lauren's Gift. 10 ran, time 15.23.
Open Maiden: 1, Jedi; 2, Peter; 3, Georgie's Girl; 4, Fire Cracker. 4 ran, time 15.53.
MAL WALKER features the successful hounds at Wath Brow this week with, in descending order - Celtic Spirit leading over the wall; Valhalla, Medwyn and Black Poppy.
Mal's prints can can be bought at £25 for an A4 framed and £40 for an A3 framed. Prints only are £10 A4 and £15 A3.
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