Carrigtwohill Puppy Drag, 28/03/09

Araglen, Fermoy, Co Cork

This annual venue must be the coldest part of Cork County. Although it was very windy and very cold, 17 pups ran a great race. This was a good decent drag, probably because of the un-disturbed countryside. The only disappointment was the bitter weather!!!

Above; Puppy slip at 4pm

We met the hounds racing at the first/only crossing after 7mins. John Ahernes' 'Jasper' of Northern United led the bunch with Mickey Briens 'Judys Girl' of Mayfield crossing 2nd. When they showed on the finish, Pat O Learys 'Don't Quote Me' seemed to lead them in from a good 5 fields out. She battled hard and maintained this pace in front to finish with a few lengths to spare on her clubmate 'Jasper' who took 2nd place for John Aherne. Timmy McCarthy took the 3rd & 4th places with 'Sheares Park Boy' and 'Sheares Park Lad' of Southern Harriers.

Above; Crossing at the main divide

Results:

1st 'Don't Quote Me', Northern United

2nd 'Jasper', Northern United

3rd 'Sheares Park Boy', Southern Harriers

4th Sheares Park Lad', Southern Harriers

5th 'Judys Girl', Mayfield

6th 'United Jack', Southern Harriers

17 ran, Time; 16 mins 16 secs

Pictured Right: Paul Kenneally & Pat O Leary with 'Don't Quote Me' and 'I Want You'

Douglas Drag 22/03/09

Senior Results
1st Quiet Lady, Fairhill
2nd Newtown Raven, Griffin United
3rd Duggans Lad, Southern Harriers
4th Ryans Girl, Southern Harriers
5th Not Now Nora, Southern Harriers
6th Black and Tan, Northern Hunt

Senior Maiden Results;
1st McGuigan, Clogheen
2nd Ranter, Mayfield
3rd McQuade, Fairhill
4th Pavarotti, Mayfield
5th Barney, Northern United
6th Belle, Mayfield

Puppy Results
1st Nina, Northern United
2nd Don't Quote Me, Northern United
3rd Sheares Park Lad, Southern Harriers
4th United Jack, Southern Harriers
5th Hi Magic, Fairhill
6th I Want You, Northern United

Puppy Re-run
1st Don't Quote Me, Northern United
2nd I Want You, Northern United
3rd Jasper, Northern United
4th Nina, Northern United
5th Hiya, Fairhill
6th Judys Girl, Mayfield

Lets Get Together Suicide Foundation Charity Drag

Bottlehill, 17/03/09 at 4pm
Senior Drag,
A charity drag was organised by the Cork Association trying to raise funds for the 'Lets Get Together' suicide foundation, where members of Cork City, Cork County and Kerry were invited to participate their senior and senior maiden hounds for this noble cause.
It was a sunny St Patricks Day which attracted a large number of both supporters and trainers. The view from the start and finish enabled the majority of us to just use binoculars instead of driving out the roads, it was that good. The seniors struggled to get over the first ditch though and this immediately let a few hounds creep into the lead with a field to spare.
The finish was an anxious one as two top class finishing hounds 'Magics Choice' and 'Merlin' were battling shoulder to shoulder a couple of fields from the finish. The hounds should have come straight to the finishing line from our left, but ran a tractors path before coming over the final ditch to the line. Michael John Buckleys 'Merlin' came out first speeding to the line, being chased hard by Denise and Leslie Kepples 'Magics Choice'. 'Merlin' crossed the line first in front of his follower 'Magics Choice' who took 2nd and Gary O Sullivans talented 'Black and Tan' took 3rd place.
Below is the senior finish..........
Senior Results;
1st Merlin, Clogheen
2nd Magics Choice, Mayfield
3rd Black and Tan, Northern Hunt
4th Westgate Storm, Mayfield
5th Newtown Raven, Griffin United
6th Blue Diamond, ICDA
25 ran, 27 Mins

Senior Maidens;
Another great race, but I don't think we'll get to witness a finish like this one in the near future. Pat & Marion Harringtons consistent 'McQuade' of Fairhill showed to be leading the pack to the finishing line comfortably, and maintained his position until the line........where almost out of nowhere came Badgers 'It's Hard To Say' of ICDA to meet 'McQuade' for first place on the line................
It was an anxious time for both traineres as the judges and catchers couldn't decide who should get the winning ribbon. So after an anxious age of debating the judges viewed the camera but still couldn't distinguish between 1st and 2nd, it was that close. So the judges announced a dead heat between 'Its Hard to say' and 'McQuade' both finishing a deserving 1st place each. Jennifer Kenneallys 'Crafty Jack' finished a close 3rd.

Senior Maiden Results;
1st McQuade, fairhill
1st 'It's Hard to Say, Badger,ICDA
3rd 'Crafty Jack, Southern Harriers
4th Callums Ryan, Douglas
5th McGuigan, Clogheen
6th Quiet Nook, Badger, ICDA
31 Maidens, 26mins 27 secs

Clogheen Senior Drag, 15/03/09

Hollyhill at 4pm
The seniors were slipped from Nashs Boreen heading toward the bog. Running along the bog heading for the first crossing at the haunted house, seen the obvious hounds 'Black and Tan', 'Magics Choice' and 'Newtown Raven', to name but a few of the pack, lead them across this road. From here they headed to the crossing at the sweet shops, vearing out toward Clogheen / Kerry Pike where we met them at the main Blarney Road crossing. Here the same hounds were leading, but the pack was slightly broken, probably because of fatigue.
From here the next road was the last road at the red gates. Michael Buckleys 'Newtown Raven' of Griffin United leaded them downhill and crossed this road first with 'Black and Tan', 'Duggans Lad', 'Magics Choice' in 4th and 'Quiet Lady' in 7th position. As they jumped the stream and climbed uphill through the rough before vearing right for the finish, this changed dramatically.

Crossing at the red gates above
At the finish, it was a short call and 'Magics Choice' of Mayfield and 'Quiet Lady' of Fairhill battled it to the line. This was 'Quiet Lady' first run in the senior ranks after being promoted from her consistent wins the previous 3 weeks. Unfortunately, she couldn't make it 4 in a row, as Leslie Kepples 'Magics Choice' of Mayfield always has that bit more speed when the call goes up. So the honours went to Denise and Leslies' talented 'Magics Choice' of Mayfield who finished 1st, followed by Tristan O Herlihys 'Quiet Lady' of Fairhill.

Senior Results:
1st Magics Choice, Mayfield
2nd Quiet Lady, Fairhill
3rd Newtown Raven, Griffin United
4th Black and Tan, Northern Hunt
5th Duggans Lad
6th Pats Pick, Mayfield

Senior Maiden Results;
1st Crafty Jack, Southern Harriers
2nd Callums Ryan, Douglas
3rd McQuade, Fairhill
4th Pavarotti, Mayfield
5th Curaheen Drive, Southern Harriers
6th Sunrise Jack, Southern Harriers

Clogheen Puppy Drag, 14/03/09

Hollyhill at 4pm

Puppy Results;
1st Baruca, Mayfield
2nd Get Smart, Northern United
3rd Jasper, Northern Umited
4th Judys Girl, Mayfield
5th Nina, Northern United
6th Hiya, Fairhill

Northern United Senior Drag 08/03/09

Senior Results;


1st 'Merlin', Clogheen


2nd 'Is It It', Douglas


3rd 'Black and Tan', Northern Hunt


4th 'Magics Choice, Mayfield


5th 'Westgate Storm', Mayfield


6th ;Newtown Raven', Griffin United

Re-Run;

1st Magics Choice, Mayfield

2nd Busy Future, Douglas

3rd Newtown Raven, Griffin United

4th Duggans Lad, Southern Harriers

5th: John T, Griffin United

6th Is It It, Douglas

Tristan O Herlihy with senior maiden winner 'Quiet Lady' of Fairhill

Senior Maiden Results


1st 'Quiet Lady', Fairhill


2nd 'Callums Ryan', Douglas


3rd 'Bellman', Mayfield


4th 'Pavorotti', Mayfield


5th 'McQuade', Fairhill


6th 'McGuigan', Clogheen

Re-Run;
1st Quiet Lady, Fairhill
2nd McQuade, Fairhill
3rd Crafty Jack, Southern Harriers
4th Sunrise Jack, Southern Harriers
5th Pavarotti, Mayfield
6th Midday Lass, Douglas

Northern United Puppy Drag, 07/03/09

Carrignavar at 4pm

It was a cold damp day and the 20 pups set off to a good fast paced drag. We had a good view of this drag from the starting field, which was just as well as there was no roads. They went straight out the first few fields vearing left climbing up hill, where the pack was in a line. They then veared left again running beneath a forest where Mickey Briens 'Judys Girl' of Mayfield led this pack setting a fast pace. From here they veared left again down into a bog before heading home. When they showed 3 fields out from the finish, it was the same driving hound, 'Judys Girl', leading them to the line. Pat O Callaghans 'Hi Ya' of Fairhill showed 2nd and tried his best to catch 'Judys Girl' but to no avail and 'Judys Girl' of Mayfield won an honourable 1st place as she ran a cracking race, and 'Hi Ya' of Fairhill settled for a close 2nd, followed tightly by Gerry & Jennifer Kenneallys 'United Jack' of Southern Harriers.

Above Left; Mickey Brien with winner 'Judys Girl'

Above Right; Magics Helpers Tim O Callaghan & Tristan O Herlihy with runner-up 'Hi Ya'

Results;
1st 'Judys Girl', Mayfield
2nd 'Hiya', Fairhill
3rd 'United Jack', Southern Harriers
4th 'High Maintenance', Clogheen
5th 'Schinazarde', Carrigtwohill
6th: Max High', Clogheen
20 Ran, 13 Mins



Puppy Re-Run, 10/03/09
The Northern United Puppy Re-run took place at 5:30pm at same location. 24 Puppy hounds competed in this race and seen as Northern United were able to participate in the re-run, they were sure to dominate this drag, as they have been with every drag. The only question was which one of the Northern United pups would take first place. Well this was a truely class finish. The dogs showed 3 fields and the call went up to race them home. John Ahernes 'Nina' took the lead and she really seperated herself from the following pack. She crossed the finishing line 1st, leaving a scorching 15 - 20 length gap between herself and following clubmate 'Don't Quote Me' who finished 2nd for Pat Leary. 'Nina' has shown a lot of qualities in recent drags but to finish like she did, was a definate statement that this hound should not be reckoned with on the finish.

Results;
1st, 'Nina', Northern United
2nd 'Don't Quote Me', Northern United
3rd 'Get Smart', Northern United
4th 'United Jack', Southern Harriers
5th 'Jasper', Northern United
6th 'Rockstar',
Time 11 mins, 24 ran



Above, John Aherne with 'Nina' of Northern United

Southern Harriers Senior Drag, 01/03/09

Waterfall, 4pm

Senior Drag

The long awaited opening of the senior season got off to a great start where 13 senior hounds were slipped to an open fast course. The first road crossing, 2/3 fields from the start, saw these hounds moving at a very fast pace. The majority of hounds seemed to tire at the 2nd last road, but got their second wind for the finish. The view from the last road, showed 'Magics Choice' of Mayfield and 'Black and Tan' of Northern Hunt running closely together, until the call went up. It was between Gary O Sullivans 'Black And Tan' and Denise Kepples 'Magics Choice'. They battled hard from the last road, but when they cleared the gap into the finishing field, 'Magics Choice' speeded up his gears to the call to win first place and 'Black and Tan' followed for 2nd.

Senior Results:
1st; 'Magics Choice', Mayfield
2nd; 'Black and Tan', Northern Hunt
3rd; 'Westgate Storm', Mayfield
4th; 'Tallyman', Northern United
5th; 'Newtown Raven', Griffin United
6th; 'Pats Pick', Mayfield
13 Ran, Time; 29mins 30secs

Senior Maiden;

Following the senior course after 10 minutes, 28 maidens raced the roads and even completed this course a minute and a half faster than the seniors. They really were setting the pace for each other as they tongued all the way around the course. The placed hounds gave the results a lot of justice as the winning hounds were not out of the drag at any stage. Pat Harringtons 'McQuaid' of Fairhill was stuck in the drag at every road, as was 'Callums Ryan' of Douglas. From the last road it was 'McQuad' who led them home with Tim Herlihys 'Shane' of Griffin United and 'Callums Ryan' of Douglas. The call went up and these three were shoulder to shoulder until they had to climb the final ditch upward for the finishing line. 'McQuaid' jumped this first which gave him the advantage over the following two who cleared the gap together, and 'McQuaid' maintained his driving speed over the line to win first place for a delighted Pat Harrington. 'Callums Ryan' took 2nd and very close to him finished 'Shane' to take 3rd.

Above; Pat Harrinton with senior maiden winner 'McQuad' of Fairhill

Senior Maiden Results:
1st; 'McQuaid', Fairhill
2nd; 'Callums Ryan', Douglas
3rd; 'Shane', Griffin United
4th; 'Tomahawk', Clogheen
5th: 'Barney', Northern United
6th; 'Valdor', Fairhill
28 Ran, Time; 28mins

Re-Run; Wednesday Evening at 5pm, Same Venue
Senior
1st 'Magics Choice', Mayfield
2nd 'John T', Griffin United
3rd: 'Is It It', Douglas
4th: 'Ryans Girl', Southern Harriers
5th: 'Newtown Raven', Griffin United
6th: 'Busy Future', Douglas

Senior Maidens;
1st 'Quiet Lady', Fairhill
2nd 'Bellman', Mayfield
3rd 'McQuade', Fairhill
4th 'Stracken', Mayfield
5th: 'Shane', Griffin United
6th: 'Midday Lass', Douglas