The fields have now been released for night one of the inaugural neds Friday Night Lightning Series, with a full night of 280m racing set for Wentworth Park.
Nominations were opened and the trainers replied in kind.
The race card for this Friday night, March 15, is packed with 10 races of 280m.
The night will feature a mixture of grades with 5th, 4th and 3/4 grade all run throughout the night.
Allan Ivers of Swan Bay has been targeting the event since its announcement in February and has drawn 12 greyhounds for the opening night.
Ivers, who was excited to see a series for sprinters, said it’s a great concept and is excited his dogs get the opportunity to run in the sprint series at the State’s premier track – Wentworth Park.
“It’s great for sure [neds Friday Night Lightning),” he said.
“I look from week-to-week even when it’s not on. Sometimes if they’re short of noms (sic) on a Wednesday night meeting they’ll run a 280m and I look for those races as well when they’re on. It’s pretty hard to get.
“I’ve thought over the last 12 months that every time there’s a 5th grade Heat over the 400 at a track whether it be Gardens or Gosford or 330m Heats at Richmond, they always seem to fill a race meeting awfully quick so I thought for sure they’d have a good 10 race program and 10 in each race and that’s how it panned out for the Friday night meeting.”
Rodney McDonald will also make the trip to Wentworth Park from Cowra for Friday’s meeting, with nine of his sprinters drawn to run on the night.
Making a longer journey than most for the innovative race series, Dave Irwin is set to bring the undefeated That’s Lil Bob down from Warragai Creek, north of Grafton.
The two-year-old will be looking to claim his fourth win from four starts when he contests the 5th grade neds Fluc Up Heat.
Ivers’ also believes the series will be suited to his current kennels, with 18 out of his 20 dogs in work suited to the shorter race format. Having recently trialed at the track, the Port Stephens trainer is confident that his greyhounds are a good chance to be successful on the night.
“I’ve got plenty in work at the moment and I was looking at the series overall and even to chase that trainer’s bonus.
“I’ve been down the last two Tuesdays and trialed a fair few of them in preparation for it. 18 of the 20 dogs in work in my kennel are sprinters anyway so it’s pretty suited to the series,” Ivers said.
Of his dogs making the trek down over the course of the five-week series, Ivers said was a mixture of greys to keep an eye on, who all possess their own unique race traits.
“Probably the better ones are Danny Said No, whose won four of her last five and she’s only young and she’s going really good.
“I’ve recently acquired a bitch to train, Rose Of Diore whose a real lid-pinger; she just begins pretty much every time she goes around and she had her first start for me at Gunnedah on the weekend and beat a pretty good field and won convincingly.
“Also the older bitch, Five Eight Dall, she loves racing over the 300 and is always competitive.
“I’ve got another bitch who I’ve set for over the five week period but she just wasn’t 100% to put in this time, Faith In Me. She’s a good race bitch who’s won 16 races so she’ll certainly be racing down there over the next couple of weeks.
“She holds the record at Muswellbrook over the 300 so she’s certainly going to be more than competitive based on what she’s trialed down there too.
“I’m just lucky that they’ve all stay sound and I’ve got a good team in there on Friday night to kick off. I’ll be there every week for sure.”
Click here for the full form guide for neds Friday Night Lightning Night 1.
Click here for the full list of fields for neds Friday Night Lightning Night 1.
