​Maggie’s Aim wins Red Shilling Marathon at Brandywell

And there was a big attendance at the Lone Moor Road track for the night’s racing.

Before the off in the betting market, as expected, the main focus was on the two semi-finals winners with good support for Tell on Charity at 2/1 from trap two who won her semi-final in a time of 43.38.

The other semi-final winner, Maggie's Aim from trap three at 1/1, won her semi-final in a time of 43.10.

As expected, at trap rise, the two strong stayers were well behind the early pacesetters on the first circuit with Airmount Sky from trap two leading the field going out on the final circuit. However, going along the back straight Tell on Charity went to the front and it looked race over as he was five lengths clear. Coming into the home straight Maggie's Aim was now putting in a big finish and went on to win by a length and a half in a time of 42.74 for her Dungannon based owner Martin Corr.

Tell on Charity held on for second with her kennel comrade Benidorm Flora a half length back in third for the Belfast based cheap as chips syndicate.

Also on Monday night two heats of the Benny Barrett Memorial sprint competition were run off and this is the first of the heats of competitions that will be run over the next few weeks for the Annual Gala night of racing that will take place at the end of June.

In the first heat Barberjet Shelia returned to form and she impressed when winning in a time of 16.80 at odds of 2/1 for local owner James Hasson. In the second semi-final Divine Rule won in a time of 16.95 at odds of 2/1 for his Crumlin based owner Cathy R.Hynes.

There will be no racing next Monday night at the track due to the Derry City match. Racing resumes on Monday, June 10th.

Track Bookmakers Sprint Final at Lifford

The final of the Track Bookmakers sprint will be the main race on the card at Lifford on Friday night and there were two semi-finals last Friday night. In the first semi-final Astro Blaze from trap three led from traps but Sniper Roro from trap six swept around the outside to go into the lead and this allowed Astro Blaze to draw level again but when Sniper Roro ran on strongly up the hill to win by a length and a quarter in a time of 17.57 at odds of 3/1 for local owner Kevin O'Kane.

Astro Blaze finished second with Wanofthemwans from trap two back in third also qualifying for Friday’s final.

In the second semi-final Promises to Keep looked the likely winner but the well supported Osage at 9/4 showed big pace from trap six and he galloped on strongly to win by one and three quarters of a length in a time of 17.59 for Derry based owner James Campbell. Promise's to keep back in second and Extreme Golddust in third also qualified for the final.

Looking at the form there is only two spots on the clock between Sniper Roro and Osage and it's a difficult call but my view is Osage looks to have a great draw in six and can go on to win the final for the Campbell family Sniper Roro looks the main danger to the selection.

There where two finals last week at the track and on Friday night’s final of the Bet on the Tote sprint final it was the in-form Sniper Kennel that provided the winner.

Sniper Big Joe fell out of traps in the semi-finals the previous week but it was a different story this time. He broke on level terms and on the run to the bend he went past early Pacesetter Mayo Icon from trap one. Sniper Big Joe ran on strongly up the hill to win by two and a half lengths in a time of 17.81 at odds of 4/1 for the sniper kennel.

The Fitzwilliam 525 was the main race on last Sunday night’s card and Clooney Rebel was the evens favourite to win after his good run in the previous week's semi-finals but, unlike last week when he led, this time he broke slowly. Cooleree Earl who showed brilliant early pace in the previous week's semi-finals went clear around the opening bends but when the strong staying Friday's Acclaim went second, I think everyone knew it would be a major challenge for Cooleree Earl to hold on to the lead.

Going around the final bends Friday’s Acclaim joined the early pacesetter and in the home straight drew away to win by three and a half lengths to win the final at odds of 5/2 for his Lifford based owner Paul Whyte.

Racing on Friday at Lifford starts at 7.45pm and racing on Sunday night has an earlier start time of 6pm.