Memorial Night heats at Brandywell Track
There was an eight race card at Brandywell on Monday where the main races were heats of competitions for the Memorial Gala Night of Racing which takes place at the end of the month.
In heat three of the Managers Select Sprint, ‘Finnside Diamond’, a August ’24 bitch showed good pace from trap six to lead and ran on well to win in a time of 17.07 for Strabane owner, Joseph White.
The next race on the card was heat two of the Bookmakers 500 where ‘Shadowline’ who showed a step up in distance was just what was required. ‘Shadowline’ broke well from trap two and the August ’24 bitch came home an easy winner by over six lengths in 28.34 for owner Darren Fahy and trainer Stephen Radcliffe.
The next race was a heat of the Billy and Sheila Quigley Memorial, over 525 yards. ‘Hunkarim’ had good sprint form and put it to good use, coming home another easy winner in 29.57 for Dungiven owner Sarah Leahy and Derry trainer Kevin Canning.
Another heat of the Billy and Sheila Quigley Memorial saw ‘Bolt of Lightning’ an impressive winner in 29.58 for owner Connor Colby.
Next up was a heat of the Bill McKinney Memorial where ‘Aidhm Eileen’, a July ’23 bitch, came from off the pace to win in 28.57 for the 500 yards for Coalisland owner, Michael Gervin.
A heat of the Benny Barrett Memorial Sprint saw ‘Highview Exotic’ having her first race at the track and she ran well from trap six to win in 17.01 for Brendan McLaughlin.
A second heat of the Benny Barrett Memorial saw trainer Stephen Radcliffe make it a double. ‘That Man’, a August 23 bitch who had won her last two races, showed good pace to land her third win in a row in a time of 17.03. Monday will see the remaining heats of Gala Night competitions, first race at 8pm.
NWGOBA Unraced Pup competition at Lifford
There was racing as normal last weekend at Lifford. Saturday’s card saw the four first round heats of the NWGOBA sponsored Unraced Pup Competition over 325 yards with a winner's prize of €1,000. In heat one ‘Kick On Son’, a November a ’24 pup was well supported at 2/1 and he didn’t disappoint. Quickly away, he came home an easy five length winner in 17.69 for Lifford owner Ray White.
In heat two we also had a well punted winner. ‘Long Horizon’ was bet into 4/6 and June ’24 bitch flew from traps, going on to win in a flying time of 17.59 for Ardmore owner Robert Brolly and trainer Dessie Kerrigan.
In heat three, ‘Enchanting Tommy’ led to the opening bend but ‘Ventry Oracle’ joined the early pacesetter at that point. However ‘Enchanting Tommy’ moved right and badly impeded ‘Ventry Oracle’ which allowed ‘Margan Minnie’, the evens favourite, to shoot through and win in 17.85 for her Derry’s George Cregan.
In the last heat the powerful Newry based Matthews Kennel runner was ‘Look and Listen’, a January 25 dog and after a slow start, he ran on strongly to win in 18.01.
There will be two semi-finals of the competition on Saturday night and the first looks between ‘I'd Rather Not’(trap one), ‘Margan Minnie’ (trap three) and ‘Kick on Son (trap six. There is only a couple of lengths between the three but I favour ‘I'd Rather Not’ with Margan Minnie and Kick on Son to also qualify.
The second semi-final looks very open but I fancy ‘Halfway Gotta’ to win and he should be a Decent price Look and Listen from trap six and Ventry Ace from Trap Three look to also have a good chance of also getting the Last Qualifying spot's for next week's Final
NWGOBA Puppy Sprint semi-finals:
First Semi final: 1 Id Rather Not; 2 Friday's Taylor; 3 Margan Minnie; 4 Ventry Oracle; 5 Enchanting Tommy; 6 Kick on Son
Second semi-final: 1 Pharis Jota; 2 Gael Again; 3 Halfway Gotta; 4 Ventry Ace; 5 Kirk my Boy; 6 Look and Listen.