Nationals Grand Finals Fields Drawn
The Draws for the Nationals Grand Finals to be run at Wentworth Park, Sydney on Saturday 27 August, were completed soon after the running of the qualifying heats around Australasia on Thursday night.
Both races boost A$75,000 to the winner and it is exciting that NZ will be represented by two Kiwi bred greyhounds.
Our star stayer Know Keeper would have loved the red rug, but two looks very good with no speed inside him. Local heat winner Super Estrella will start favourite after recording an exceptionally fast time in the NSW heat. But from Box 4 she will need to be at her best to better the NZ champ if he arrives in top condition.
Opawa Superstar has drawn a bit ugly in 7 for his Grand Final, however judging by some of the rough results in the Australian heats he may well have the gas to cross this lot and assume his favourite role of pacemaking.
And just to quantify 'rough' - the Quinella in the Queensland heat paid whopping $1,006, an unheard of amount for a greyhound race. Any greyhounds rated that lowly by Australian punters are likely to struggle against the likes of Opawa Superstar.
The fields for the finals are listed below with links to videos of Thursday's heats alongside each runner, although there are no videos available from Tasmania. One quirky highlight from the heats happens after the post in the SA sprint heat - favourite Victa Grosso in the pink rug is far too clever for the catching pen...
| Nationals Sprint Grand Final - 520m | |
| 1. Simply Limelight | Won NSW heat |
| 2. Dusty Bourbski | Won Vic heat |
| 3. Good Odds Cash | 4th NSW heat - Wildcard |
| 4. Throttle | Won WA heat |
| 5. Fly For Trix | Won SA heat |
| 6. Magical Cyndie | Won Qld heat |
| 7. Opawa Superstar | Won NZ heat |
| 8. McInerney | Won Tas heat |
| 9. Bandit Ned (1R) | 2nd NSW heat |
| 10. Ritza Donna (2R) | 3rd NSW heat |
| Nationals Distance Grand Final - 720m | |
| 1. Tsar Bell | Won WA heat |
| 2. Know Keeper | Won NZ heat |
| 3. Gypsy Wyong | 5th Vic heat - Wildcard |
| 4. Super Estrella | Won NSW heat |
| 5. Highland Wonder | Won Tas heat |
| 6. Days Of Thunder | Won Qld heat |
| 7. Moraine Suzie | Won Vic heat |
| 8. Fantastic Radley | Won SA heat |
| 9. Zipping Kansas (1R) | 2nd NSW heat |
| 10. Stagger Out Lee (2R) | 3rd NSW heat |
PS. Well done if you spotted it, the Wentworth Park sign in the link picture is not from the Sydney dogtrack!
