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 THICK mist on Saturday meant the Cold Fell Festival was cancelled but the HTA Executive quickly agreed that the meeting could be held 24 hours later.
That meant Monday's scheduled trails at Cold Fell were postponed until Wednesday night, and Wednesday's trails at St. Helena were cancelled.
The juggling of the fixtures, however, enabled the Festival to go ahead and once again it proved to be an outstanding day’s sport for the hound trailing fraternity.
More than 220 runners contested the seven trails with the £1,000 senior race the stand-out prize and which proved to be a competitive and exciting contest.
Reigning champion Show Girl came out on top after a thrilling climax, a great winning return for the Kendal bitch who has been out of action for a while.
Quiet Swallow came onto the final stretch with a narrow lead from Show Girl and Dairy Singer and as the three got down to the hard work needed to get over the tape it was Penny Swanton’s charge who had most in the tank to hold off her rivals and win by a length. Quiet Swallow edged-out Dairy Singer for third place.
If that was the biggest win of the day, the outstanding training performance came from Heidi Messenger and John Grisedale who recorded a Festival first –training first and second in the same trail – in this case, the senior maidens.
Their litter mates Roulette and Relentless fought-out the finish after dropping the opposition and in the end it was the bitch Roulette who got the verdict by about two lengths.
Heidi and John also won the trophy for the kennel with the most points so it was quite a day for the pair of them who clearly enjoy their trailing.
The Festival had opened with the open restricted which saw Danny McCluskey and Sheila Metcalfe's Toffee Supreme catch Cavendish coming onto the finish and go on to win well. There’s a family link there, too, as both hounds are out of Danny and Sheila’s Toffee Girl – respectively sired by Calzaghe and Westgate Ruler.
The Napier family have a good record at the Festival and that continued in the open non winners when their Foxparke Traveller finished the best of several who were in with a shout, running on well to beat Ruby by four lengths with Huntsman’s Future close up in third.
There was an outstanding performance in the veterans from Maurice and Hannah Bewley's Duet who set a terrific pace from the outset and although One Man did his bit for a while it was the long-time leader who still showed out in front when they came to the business end.
Duet continued to run the opposition into the ground and at the line had a good ten yards lead over One Man with Linsdale hanging onto third. 
The smallest field of the day was for the puppy trail when 16 juniors took part but there were some good performers in there, including the two Produce Stakes winners Altanic and Tagget.
The pair of them were prominent early on but only Altanic was still there on the finish, but facing a stern battle as the pack closed.
In fact Altanic was run-out of it in the closing stages as Reg Bell’s Enoch kept going best to register her first win – what a way to break her maiden tag. She had two lengths on Da Look and Medwyn with Altanic back in fourth.
The puppy maidens went to Nessa Simpson’s Nike who came through late to beat the long time leader Colleen by two lengths with Tiagress in third.
The latest leader board in the Top Tipster competition includes the Festival, and takes into account the bonus points for major wins: Florrie Tyson 78; Denis Peare 77; Dean Pepper, Christine Brownlee and CaroleJackson/Lynn Pawley 69; Val Loan 64; Joe Simpson 62; Jane Laidler 60.
Florrie and Denis both have the same seniors - Darling, Alliance and Huntsman's Dazzler. Florrie's pups are Da Look, Angel and Jacob McClink, and her lower grade is Dairy Singer. Denis' pups are Tagget, Angel and Gambler, and lower grade Waltzing Matilda.
 The week’s activities had started last Tuesday at Redmain when Darling showed she still has plenty to offer in the battle for the HTA senior championship.
Out of action recently she made an eye-catching come-back with second place, only caught close to the line by the fast finishing Owtback after coming through to take the lead at the final obstacle and looking a stonewall winner.
Another early title challenger Alliance filled third spot and it does look as though battle has been re-joined again for the crown.
There was a good battle for the major tickets in the puppy trail where several were in with a chance after going round tightly packed.
In the end Steven Irving and James McClellan's kennelmates Pot Look and Da Look were first and second while subsequent Festival winner Enoch showed her well-being with a flying late run to be third. 
Another hound to emerge with credit at the Festival was Relentless and he had shown winning form in the open maidens at Redmain. Mind you that had probably more to do with his rivals throwing in the towel. Both Rhinestone Cowboy and Bon Jovi slowed on the run-in which allowed Heidi Messenger and John Grisedale’s hound to come through and win comfortably.
There were two meetings on Wednesday at Grasmere and at Lamplugh.
In the Knott Houses fixture at Grasmere Desire was made favourite in the seniors and appears to have been a bit unlucky. Twice she was forcing the pace when first some sheep and then cows provided problems, enough to put her out of contention.
She finished well to grab third but in the mayhem that had ensued Westgate Ruby and Velvet had stolen a march. It was Velvet who finished best to get past Westgate Ruby for her first victory of the season.
Westgate Gypsy has been putting together a string of good performances of late and there was another in the puppy trail when she recovered from her own error and then took advantage of a mistake by Bitch Produce winner Tagget.
She initially seemed to lose her bearings on the fell to give ground to Tagget, Tiagress and Medwyn but did well to sort herself out and get back with them along with Colourful.
It looked a really open contest but Tagget, when appearing to get in front, ran off and then it was Westgate Gypsy who showed her strong finishing qualities to go on and win from Colourful and Tiagress.
There was a good finish to the open maidens when Gill Todd’s well-fancied Temptation came with a late run to get up and beat Farm Walk by a couple of lengths with Wattmore in third.
 In the senior trail at Lamplugh Molly Malone proved a good winner, racing clear by some hundred yards to beat Miss Molly with early leader Chardonnay a further ten yards back in third.
Only nine runners contested the puppy trail but most of them showed with a chance of taking the spoils.
In the end it developed into a battle between Dog produce winner Altanic and Justify. They had a good scrap in the closing stages but Altanic just had a bit more finishing speed and won by two yards. Ryan’s Lady Anna took third place.
Relentless, a winner on Tuesday, was out again in the open maidens 24 hours later but this time had to settle for third place behind Quiet Swift and The Legal Beagle. There was a brief moment when TLB looked dangerous but Quiet Swift asserted and went on to win by five yards.
There were only six runners in the senior trail at Bridekirk on Thursday and there was a turn-up when Hunter’s Lane collected a first win of the season with the favourite Owtback only fourth.
The winner held on to beat That’s a Deal by half a length with Quiet Swallow in third.
Eight contested the puppy trail but it was another one two for the Steven Irving and James McClellan kennel with Da Look beating Pot Look by a length with Blackbird equi-distant in third.
Joint veteran champion Sophisticated Lady came up trumps in the open maidens coming very strongly in the closing stages to beat Gendarme and Bon Jovi. 
This Tuesday proved to be a very disappointing evening at Helton, not helped by persistent chilly rain.
The seniors came in very spread out indeed, and many of the 28 runners failed to finish and came in from, or were retrieved from, various directions. Just two made a race of it, Huntsman's Chance holding off the challenge of Habana narrowly for her first win, and they were well ahead of the other finishers.
There was a good finish to the puppy trail, Poker-Face coming with the lead to beat Endurance and Colourful, and again this was a first success. However, six of the 16 runners were left a very long way behind.
Impatience got the better of some handlers at the start of the open maidens, and nine of the 43 were disqualified for jumping the gun. The remainder were started after a couple of minutes, so the judge had some sorting out to do.
 Huntsman's Future came in second, but was promoted to first place as first over the tape was one of those disqualified. As in the other trails, many failed to make it round, and because there were many hounds out from all three previous trails, and it was getting late, the area committee wisely decided to cancel the All-In.
Well, we wanted rain, and we got it, but it all made for a rather miserable night
A number of people, including my predecessor in this column John Coughlan, have been in touch to offer get well wishes to the Whitehaven Area chairman Tom Newall.
Tom is recuperating following minor heart surgery and has been out of action for the past three weeks.
For years Tom has gone to the trails and judged in all weathers and it is people like him that are the backbone of the HTA.
John said: “I would reckon Tom has taken more stick than most in the sport but the one thing that cannot be taken from him is his honesty.
“As a friend of Tom's for a number of years I know how hurt he is to be sidelined but knowing the great man it will only be a matter of time before he is back doing what he loves best.”
Henry Ward has taken over Tom’s duties as Area chairman and we hope it will not be too long before the elder statesman is back at the trails and committee meetings.
I have the leader board in the Whitehaven Area Points which have been scrutinised by Sam McConnell.
CASH FOR POINTS
Miss Molly 69; Medwyn, Ryan's Lady Anna and Sawdust 62; Angel and Hot Fuss 57; Chardonnay 51; Shiraz 44; Da Look 43; Molly Malone 37; Night Spirit 36; Justify 35.
SENIORS
Miss Molly 69; Alliance 63; Hot Fuss 57; Cinnabar 55; Chardonnay 51.
PUPS
Medwyn 62; Ryan's Lady Anna 62; Angel 57; Quiet Lass 56; Sawdust 55; Da Look 53.
VETERANS
Sophisticated Lady 12;Lambrini 10; Pollyanna 8; Lone Star and Magenta 3
OPEN RESTRICTED
Newtown Clover 21; Black Poppy 16; Lone Star 15; Alles Springs and Mang Nix 14; Amy Jo 12.
OPEN MAIDENS
Calzaghe 20; Red Pyke and Tower Lass 15; Harmony 14; Celtic Warrior and Newtown Ghost 12.
SATURDAYS
Miss Molly 32; Alliance 31; Hot Fuss 28; Ryan's Lady Anna and Sawdust 17; Justify and Quiet Goldfinch 15.
Show Girl, the 2009 senior champion who came back with a bang to win the major prize at the Cold Fell Festival, is pictured at tjhe top with owner Penny Swanton while MARGARET BAXTER snapped the next five in the senior trail are pictured left to right - Quiet Swallow, Dairy Singer, Dairy Diamond, High Challenge and Valhalla.
Reg Bell is pictured with Enoch, the puppy trail winner while the action shot is of Foxparke Traveller leaping for the line in the open non-winners trail.
The other action shots were taken by MAL WALKER at Lamplugh and feature winners Molly Malone, Altanic and Quiet Swift.
Latest results in the Border Association have been as follows:-
Tuesday 6th July, Hallbankgate.
Seniors: 1, Prancer; 2, Jackpot; 3, Telltale; 4, Trust; 5, Bantry Bay; 6, Spring Dream. 8 ran, time: 22.39.
Senior Graded: 1, Farm Time; 2, Tune; 3. Lauren's Gift; 4, Fire Ranger; 5, Gold Finger; 6, Spring Midget. 11 ran, time 23.02.
Pups: 1, Gizmo; 2, Eagle Heart; 3, Border Lily; 4, Castle Piper; 5, Flanagan; 6, Spring Rambler. 6 ran, time 15.10.
Graded Pups: 1, Spring Rhythm; 2, Delta Disco; 3, Delta Diva; 4, Amber Didier; 5, Spring Roamer; 6, Border Pal. 6 ran, time 15.34.
Sunday 11th July, Steel Rigg.
Seniors: 1, Telltale; 2. Trust; 3, Lakeland Echo ;4, Marshman; 5, Jacko. 5 ran, time: 24.54.
Senior Graded: 1, Jackpot; 2,Tune; 3, Lauren's Gift; 4, Lakeland Mist; 5, Fire Cracker; 6, Georgie's Girl. 8 ran, time 24.34.
Pups: 1, Gizmo; 2, Dynamic; 3, Eagle Heart; 4, Border Lily; 5, Lotto. 5 ran, time 16.23.
Puppy Graded: 1, Delta Disco; 2, Border Pal; 3, Castle Piper; 4, Spring Rhythm; 5, Delta Diva; 6, Class Lass. 10 ran, time 16.52.
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