Source: The County Gentleman and Land and Water (1907)

Great Run with the Blazers

Tuesday, December 11, 1906, will ever be memorable in the annals of Galway hunting, for on that day the ” Blazers” had a run the like of which has seldom been heard of in Ireland, as I think will be allowed when all the facts of the case are set forth. It is not often that hounds run for two hours and five minutes over the country without being cast more than twice; it is seldom, indeed, that this occurs in a light dry  gras country; but I cannot call to mind another run of the same duration, when hounds were nearly always running so very hard as generally to be several fields in front of horsemen. The distance as hounds ran has been stated by several local sportsmen to be 22 miles at the lowest possible computation, but when accurate measurement has been made of the ground it is believed that at least another mile will have to be added. The point-to-point distance from find to kill, as measured on the Ordnance map, is 124 statute miles. This surely must be handed down as a “classic ” pursuit, and though the story comes to me from eyewitnesses of this glorious hunt I feel that no one who did not see the run can hope to do justice to its merits on paper, though the subjoined details may give some idea of the pursuit.

The Quick Start

To begin with, hounds met at Athenry on this auspicious Tuesday, and after giving ten minutes’ law, Mr. Bell trotted off to Caheroyan Gorse. From the top end of this a very fine fox was shortly after seen to break, and the bitches getting away close to him the pace from the very start was uncommonly fast, and for twenty minutes they raced without the semblance of a check. When nearing Moyode (where the “Blazers” were kennelled for so many years in the glorious times of Burton Perse and his ancestors) the pack threw up among some patches of wild furze, but Mr. Bell held them forward towards Tally Ho! Furze, and quickly picking up the line to the left, they ran fast across Tally Ho! demesne, leaving the Lodge on their loft. Passing the cross-roads they skirted Moyode, crossed the road, and, leaving Hollypark on the right, it seemed as if the fox were now making for the big wood of Dunsundle, which, thanks to Mr. Daly, is always full of foxes, This was not his point, however, for turning left-handed the leading hounds jumped the high demesne walls of an old ruined castle, Mr. Bell capping the body of the pack over a lower place which was adjacent. Horsemen had then to make a detour of about 300 yards to get round these walls, and when they did so hounds were out of sight, and no one was actually with them then till they got up to them hunting along a heathery strip of bog-land near Raford.

The Only Covert Touched.

They then ran through the far end of the wood at Raford, which was the only covert they touched, and which is full of foxes. Here the bitches appeared to be close to their fox, and they had run 12 miles at a very fast pace. Crossing the Rathville road above Raford they then bent to the right towards Truroe-once & fox covert, but now only a clump of trees. No one was very close to them now, till they checked among some cattle, when the M.F.H. held them on over the road, and, hitting off the line at once, away they went again at score in the Loughrea direction for about 2 miles. With the fox turning down wind again, they then ran along the low lying, sedgy fields of Danesfort, those riders who were fortunate enough to be within hail of them being able here to make use of the turnpike road, which led in the same direction from Danesfort. Close to his brush the bitches were now running for blood and leaving the tired horses as if they were standing still. In front lay Dartfield covert, which the fox was trying hard to reach, trying vainly, however, for when within two fields of safety-open earths and fresh foxes-the pack, running from scent to view, pulled him down in the open. It was 11.30 when the fox was viewed away and 1.35 when the M.F.H. took his remains from the pack.

 Only twice off Grass and no Change.

It was a most severe run, and though those horses which got to the end had reached the limit of their powers, yet riders had all the luck of the turns the hounds made, and the country was all a light grass one, chiefly flat, and with fair stone walls; the only two places where hounds were off grass being at Raford bog and Danesfort. Luckily for Mr. Bell he got his second horse about the middle of the run, and when it was badly needed. So great was the pace throughout most of the run, that in a close or hairy country the field could never have kept in sight of hounds, whose splendid condition and the head they carried all through gave them the victory. Mr. Bell was warmly congratulated at the finish, and may well be proud.