Kiwi greyhounds go head-to-head

Hatrick Raceway PHOTO/FILE

The Kiwi-bred intermediate graded greyhounds will provide the feature racing action at the Hatrick Raceway this evening.

Four competitive 520m heats held last Friday decided the final for this $8000 New Zealand Racing Series (NZRS) Graduation final.

All NZRS finals are designed to reward the breeders, with half of the stake money on offer for these finals reserved for the breeders of the placed greyhounds.

On that basis the Canterbury based Opawa Racing team, who have bred and own four of tonight's finalists, are poised to help themselves to a decent slice of the dollars on offer in this event.

All greyhounds that this team race carry the Opawa naming prefix. Drawing the ace trap here is the 30.45 second heat winner Opawa No Ear, who held a 3.25m length margin.

That was a stylish finish he produced from the midfield and he owns solid repeat claims here.

Exiting from the eight trap will be Opawa Webby she produced the swiftest of the heat times when she clocked 30.37 seconds, after departing from this trap for her three length heat victory. Opawa Bomb cleared out from his rivals after securing the race lead down the back straight and he cruised to the judge by holding a tidy seven length margin, clocking 30.58 seconds in doing so. Completing the Opawa attack on this event is Opawa Peekay, who produced an eye-catching fresh-up effort following a three month spell. She was sighted putting in some big late bounds when chasing home Opawa No Ear.

The remaining heat winner was the northern-trained All In All, who stylishly led throughout when clocking 30.51 seconds.

He must adopt those same racing tactics after leaping from trap seven here.

It was Red Crystal who gamely led the chase after All In All. She is known for her early pace, which she must use from the tricky five trap here.

Fastback King was solid when delivering his heat in second to Opawa Bomb.