GREYHOUNDS: Biggest crowd of year for Brandywell Stadium Gala Evening

First up was the Benny Barrett Memorial Sprint final. ‘Wasn't Two Be’ was the evens favourite but at trap rise it was ‘Riada Jean’ who led the field with ‘Mayah’s News’ just in behind. At this point ‘Wasn't Two Be’ was a couple of lengths behind but the favourite was closing fast and near the line, he got up to win by half a length in a time of 16.72 for Brendan McLaughlin. ‘Riada Jean’ finished second with ‘Mayah’s News’ back in third.

The second final was the Bill McKinney Memorial over 500 yards and once again it went to the favourite. ‘Mineolasuperstar’ was 7/4 into 6/4 and showed good early pace to lead. Although ‘Drumcrow Anton’ looked dangerous, ‘Mineolasuperstar’ came home to win by over two lengths in 27.89 for Stephen Radcliffe with ‘Drumcrow Anton’ second.

It was a tough night for the bookmakers in the early races with three out four going to well supported favourites and it was about to get worse. ‘Generous Story’ attracted good support at 6/4 and although ‘Kilbride Classic’ led until the home straight, ‘Generous Story’ came through with a big finish to win by just under two lengths in 29.50 for Charles Baxter.

The bookmakers got a result in the Rocking Chair Bar Open 500, sponsored by Brendan Duffy. ‘Olwinn Me’ was the 5/4 favourite but at trap rise ‘One Love’, a 4/1 shot led and with major trouble behind at the first bend, it was race over. The December ’21 bitch was a easy winner by nine lengths in 27.87 for Antrim based owner Phillip Moore .

The last race on the card was the Paul Ellis Butcher's sponsored Open sprint, a very open looking race on form at 5/2 the field before the off. ‘Effernogue Pepse’, from trap five, showed the best early pace and the January ’21 dog went on to win easily in 16.58 at odds of 7/2 for Artigarvan owner Georgia Gibbons.

Finally, I have to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who attended the meeting and also to Thomas Hasson for once again doing all the hard work in organising the meeting; to Lynda Bonner who looked after all the presentations and finally to the Brandywell Track management for having the track in top class condition and for the great work in getting all the outside seating made available.

Racing resumes on Monday night with the normal start time of 8pm.

LA Vikingo flying run at Lifford Stadium

There was a top class eight race card at Lifford on Sunday where, without doubt, the star of the show was ‘La Vikingo’ who won the open sprint. ‘It's a Mystery’, who was had a very fast time of 17.53 in his last win at the track, was the 5/4 favourite with’La Vikingo’ at 5/2. It was a big ask for La Vikingo as the the September ’21 pup had only one race on his card and it was only a novice race. He was now was taking on open class sprinters.

‘La Vikingo’ broke well from trap five and in the blink of the eye had shot several lengths clear. After tracking well he stormed home by five and a half lengths in a fantastic time of 17.32 for owners Roy Ball and Trevor Pearson and trainer Michael Corr. That’s only two spots outside the track record (17.30) while the split time ‘La Vikingo’ recorded was 4.21, the fastest split since the track reopened!

In the Open 525, ‘Boherna Rio’ was the 5/4 favourite with ‘Droopys De Lux’ a 3/1 shot. At Trap rise it was ‘Droopys De Lux’that led up to the opening bends and going into the back straight the June ’21 bitch went well clear, running on really strongly to win by over five lengths in 28.88 for Derry based father and son owners, Raymond Hamilton senior and junior. Racing will take place as normal on Friday at 7.45pm with Sunday night’s racing at 6pm.

‘The Tracker’