At the 1876 Derby, Ireland's most important horse race, the odds on the horse named Tyrconnell were 1 to 100. But the bookmakers were wrong, because after a rather slow start, Tyrconnell began to gallop faster and faster and decided the outcome of the race. After this grandiose victory, Derry's famous Watt family of distillers decided to create an anniversary bottling with their finest malt named after the race-winning horse, Tyrconnell.