CHASE’s annual St. Patrick’s Day field trial was held in at Old Mill Farm in Cartersville last weekend. This was the first time in over a year that Echo was entered to run on both days – a test to her endurance. The course was 870 yards on Saturday and 810 yards on Sunday. A nice distance, I thought, for her first 2 day event in a while.

The weather was pretty bad both days. Rainy and cold and windy. Ugh. But it didn’t seem to bother the dogs! The greyhound entry was very small – only 2 Field Champions, 1 Open and 1 Veteran on Saturday. On Sunday Echo was the only greyhound entered. I was actually glad she was the only one entered on Sunday, as that allowed her to run the course at her own pace.

On Saturday, Echo ran against Cole…Cole happens to be my favorite greyhound to watch lure course (other than my own). So, it’s always a special treat when he and Echo run together. After the prelim course, Cole was up by one point. Echo pulled it out on the final run to win with a combined score two points higher than Cole. I forfeited her Best of Breed run since she was going to be running on Sunday as well. It’s always nice to leave the field with the dog wanting more!

Being the only dog entered on Sunday, she was guaranteed the first place position and Best of Breed. Her first run was pretty sloppy as she blew a couple of the turns when she ran really wide. In true Echo form, her second run was MUCH better than the first. I had planned to run her for Best in Field because I thought she had plenty of gas left in the tank, but we were called home by Ken when Bodhi took a turn for the worse.

Despite the miserable weather, it was a great weekend of running. I got to watch some really nice dogs and chat with lots of great owners. We’ll be back on the coursing field next weekend for SEGC’s Run for Rescue (ASFA) on Saturday and the Lucy-Fox Cup (NLCC) on Sunday.

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