Veloce Nero upstaged her famous sister and kennelmate in Saturday night's heats of the Group 3 Wentworth Park Gold Cup but champion Poco Dorado remains a firm favourite for next Saturday's 720m final.
Veloce Nero (pictured) came from third in the middle stages to win her heat by just over two lengths in 41.99s while Poco Dorado wasn't headed in scoring by the same margin in 42.15s.
But Poco Dorado, who began smartly from box two in her heat, has the same draw in the final while Veloce Nero, who jumped from box three in her qualifying race, moves to a tricky box five slot next Saturday.
Their trainer John Finn will provide a remarkable 50 per cent of the Cup lineup, with Blue Moon Rising and Two Times Twice, qualifying for a shot at the $25,000 winner's purse by finishing third and fourth respectively in their heats.
Poco Dorado, who has now won 12 of 13 long-distance races at Wentworth Park, looks to have a near perfect final draw as Victoria's Boom Down, a noted slow beginner, has come up with box one.
The box draw for Saturday night's Wentworth Park Gold Cup is: 1 Boom Down 2 Poco Dorado 3 Blue Moon Rising 4 Double Gee 5 Veloce Nero 6 Kihael Road 7 Little Digger 8 Two Times Twice with reserves Rockstar Kerr and Ebby Ripper.
Good Odds Harada, Nangar Diva and Sunrise Flame won Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg Preludes on Saturday night but are likely to by-pass the big event to tackle the easier New Sensation during the Wentworth Park Easter carnival.
Heats of the open class Easter Egg will be held on April 6 with the New Sensation series, for greyhounds whelped on or after November 17, 2016, getting under way four nights later.
Good Odds Harada, who led throughout in a blistering 29.73 on Saturday night, is being set for the New Sensation, along with his litter brother Good Odds Buddy, who had no luck when third to Tamou Banner on Saturday.
"The New Sensation is their mission and after that they will target the Group 1 Ladbrokes Peter Mosman Classic at Wentworth Park in June,'' their trainer Frank Hurst.
"They are both good age races for these young dogs.''
Sunrise Flame flashed home to run down Good Odds Meghan, also from the Hurst kennels, in 30.07 and after the race her trainer Brad Field said: "She is crying out for a middle distance but I plan on giving her a crack at the New Sensation.''
Trainer Dennis Barnes has a big opinion of his Egg Prelude winner Nangar Diva, who registered her third win in six Wentworth Park races in 30.05 on Saturday, but is leaning to the New Sensation as his preferred option.
"I am in two minds which race to go for at the moment but while Nangar Diva is very good, I'm not a big fan of throwing a youngster like her, with limited experience, into a top grade race against all comers like the Easter Egg.''
Tamou Banner notched his 10th win with his personal best 29.73 WP performance on Saturday so trainer Luke Adams may now be tempted to start his exciting youngster in the Easter Egg in preference to the easier New Sensation.
But an Easter Egg definite is Buck's Future, whose flying 29.59 all-the-way effort in Saturday's Free-For-All has trainer Syd Swain aiming at a second victory in the big event.
Swain won the Easter Egg with Cyrus The Virus in 2003 and after Saturday's race he declared: "Buck's Future won't have another race at Wenty until the Egg heats on April 6.''
