Saturday night’s final of the Group 3 Northern Districts Cup (450m) looms as a beauty, with local greyhounds having a monopoly on the $25,000 to-the-winner final.
Seven of the eight finalists are trained in northern Victoria, with Milwaukee Miss, trained in Avalon by Jason Sharp, the exception.
Three heats were run last night, with .01sec separating the two fastest heat winners, Swift Current and Cursed.
The series is open only to Victorian-bred greyhounds with:
- No city wins (full stakes)
- Less than $25,000 in prize money
- Had a minimum two starts at Shepparton
Here’s how the heats panned out:
NORTHERN DISTRICTS CUP, SATURDAY
Group 3 – Shepparton – 450m
$25,000 (1st), $7000 (2nd), $3500 (3rd)
1 KRAKEN PENNYS (Kevin Eyles, Murchison)
2 SWIFT CURRENT (Michael Carter, Kialla)
3 MILWAUKEE MISS (Jason Sharp, Avalon)
4 EXTRA SPEED (Michael Carter, Kialla)
5 GOLDEN SHIRAZ (Shane Drummond, Heathcote)
6 LORENZA (Jason Formosa, Heathcote)
7 GET GO BOY (Aaron Debattista, Toolleen)
8 CURSED (Trevor Anlezark, Rochester)
Reserves
9 EASTSIDE (Robert Glass, Kyabram)
10 RIPPER REGIS (David Basile, Heathcote)
HEAT 1: The two best backed greyhounds in the race produced a thriller. EXTRA SPEED (1), a winner of 10 from 18 going into the race, pinged the lids before being edged out by CURSED (2).
TIME: 25.30sec
HEAT 2: Firm favourite ASTON VALKYRIE (2) was never in the hunt as SWIFT CURRENT (7) swept past his rivals to score a comfortable win.
TIME: 25.299sec (Best)
HEAT 3: Early pace won the day with KRAKEN PENNYS (2) causing a huge upset scoring at $41.90. Favourite GET GO BOY (8) showed impressive mid-race speed, while talented pair SHADOW MIST (1) and FUEL ‘EM (3) both missed a place.
TIME: 25.382sec
