Lyndall Brand in search of Ipswich Derby glory

By Jordan Gerrans

After decades of learning under her mother and fellow dog lover Diane Hannon, trainer Lyndall Brand is taking all those experiences into her own training journey.

With just two dogs in work in her kennel and having only been licensed since February, Coominya-based trainer Brand heads towards this Saturday night’s Ipswich Derby Final with a dual-pronged attack.

Both out of an Aston Dee Bee and Fernvale Ruby litter, Brand has Feel The Beat jumping from the eight box while kennel mate Light My Flyer will carry the light blue rug after the duo ran second in their individual heats last week.

Feel The Beat and Light My Flyer already have 13 victories between them as young dogs, which fills Brand with pride.

“I was involved in whelping this litter that is racing now as well as the next litter from the dam Fernvale Ruby,” she said.

“I whelped Fernvale Ruby; I have been there from the start with these dogs since their mother starting racing and a pup.

“These two that I am racing now, I am so rapt with their performances, they are really good, honest dogs - they try their hardest.

“They still have a lot of racing and maturing ahead of them, they can only get better I think.”

Brand has learnt all the tricks of the training trade from her mother Hannon, who prepared top chasers such as Fashion Police, White Ox, Fashion Advice and Switch Blade, among others.

Brand refers to herself as “her mum's right hand man” over the years when she was training a much bigger team of dogs than what Hannon has now.

“She is very proud, if she is not at the track after I have a dog race, she will ring me and congratulate me,” she said.

“She is stoked that I have my licence.

“Even though I have always learnt from her, I am always learning new things.

“There is a lot of things I do that she has done and it works for me.”

Like she learnt from her mother, Brand’s son Josh helps his mum with the dogs these days, handling them on race day as the trainer says she couldn’t do it without him.

“I have been involved with dogs for 30 years with my mum Diane Hannon and her partner Reg Hazelgrove, I have always been there,” Brand said.

“I am rapt with it all, happy to be racing against such great trainers that I have admired and looked up too since I was just handling, helping my mum.

“Mum is a good trainer in her own right, everyone knows Mum and Reg, and still has a few dogs now.

“Mum is getting back into it now after getting a hip replacement and back surgery, she has not been involved in the last year and a half and she is getting back into it now.”

The Brand kennel is in the process of breaking in seven new dogs, which will keep the emerging trainer busy when her team of racing greyhounds more than doubles in size in the near future.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s final over 520 metres worth $12,600 in prize money, Brand thinks her two runners are both even chances.

Asked to select the best of the two, she believes Light My Flyer might be her top hope if he jumps well but thinks their chances would both be improved if they switched boxes, with Light My Flyer better from outside and Feel The Beat from an inside draw.

“I was happy with both the dogs runs coming second, they are up against some pretty top dogs there,” Brand said.

“I have not had much in luck in finals lately, I have always been the bridesmaid and never the bride so far.

“The calibre of the dogs we are racing against is amazing, the times they are fast in the fields they have been in.

“In the recent Publicans Cup Final, I was rapt to come second to Indictment with Feel The Beat, I was just happy to be there.”