​Tuttle’s Bruno wins Len McKinney Brandywell Derby

​Shesanicelady opened up evens favourite but in a strong betting market she was available at 2/1 before the off.

And, as expected from her favoured trap one, she led easily around the opening bends, however, all eyes were then on whichever of the strong stayers could get into a challenging position behind her.

Along the back straight Newsreel, the outsider of the field at 6/1, was second but going into the third bend the strong-staying Tuttle's Bruno in the orange sheet closed right up on the leaders and looked set for an easy victory.

In fairness, Shesanicelady kept pulling out but towards the line Tuttle's Bruno gained the upper hand and went on to win by three quarters of a length in a very good time of 28.96 at odds of 3/1 for local owners, Michael Stewart and Rory Stewart.

The winning owners received their £800 prize and trophy after the race and received a great reception from the big crowd at the track.

In the consolation final, Coologue Roger from trap one was a trap-to-line winner in a time of 28.96 - the same time as the final at odds of 4/5 for Strabane based owner Michael Farrell.

In the final race on the card over the sprint it really did look open and with bookmakers going 3/1 the field it really was a strong betting market. It was a close run race to the opening first bend but My Revolut took full advantage of his inside draw and led around the opening bends and into the home straight. Although Do it Nidge in trap five put in a strong finish, My Revolut held on by three quarters of a length in a time of 16.78 for local owner Shea Campbell.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the McKinney family and the Track Lotto for their generous sponsorship of the Derby in memory of Len McKinney senior who was a regular attendee at Brandywell track over many years and thanks also to Brandywell Management for their help with the organising of the meeting.

Racing will take place on Monday night as normal with a 8pm start.

Meanwhile, it proved a successful night for the McLaughlin family who run their dogs under the Galliagh prefix at Lifford on Sunday night as they had a double on the card.

In the first race on the card, Galliagh Darkie who was the 5/4 favourite ran a great race to win at odds of 5/4 for Ciaran McLaughlin in a decent time of 17.89.

The second leg of the double was landed in race six over 550 yards. Galliagh Black met a lot of trouble in his last race at the track but it was a different story this time around.

Kooga King from trap three led around the opening bends and into the back straight but going into the final bends Galliagh Black was showing good pace and around the bend the strong stayer hit the front, coming home a length clear in a time of 30.56 for owner John McLaughlin.

In race five over the sprint distance, Spurge from trap one was back in calmer waters after running well in the open sprint competition and he was well supported at evens to win. However, it didn’t look good when Canya Hot shot took a flyer from trap three and she had a three length lead. Spurge was slowly away from trap one but showed remarkable pace up the inside of the track and shot into the lead approaching the first bend. He then galloped on strongly and came home over four lengths clear in a good time of 17.70 for owner Tom Mullan.

In the last race on the card, Stefans Storm was heavily supported at 6/4 to win and he was an impressive winner in a time of 28.98 for Armagh based owner Shea Campbell.

First race tonight at the track at 7.45pm and on Sunday at 6pm.