Litter brothers Rapid Ripple and Sauve Ripple, two of the fastest greyhounds from the NSW Northern Rivers "nursery" of stars, have trialled encouragingly on the eve of their Wentworth Park debuts on Saturday night.
Rapid Ripple, who has had five wins, nine seconds and two thirds from 21 starts, has box eight in the 520m Ladbrokes Mates Mode Stakes, a fourth and fifth grade.
His brother Sauve Ripple, a winner of 16 from 39 appearances, will exit box one in the tougher Ladbrokes Easy Form Free-For-All.
Their trainer Mick Lalicz said: "I expected Sauve Ripple to be in a hard race because he has had 16 wins.
"He is a better race dog than his brother but Rapid Ripple is a bit quicker.
"They are both well drawn and when I trialled them over 520m at Wenty last week they didn't set the world on fire but went well enough for me to bring them back to Sydney.
"Sauve Ripple is ideally drawn and I think Rapid Ripple will handle box eight well because when he won from box four at Casino at his last start on February 16, he had to go around his rivals to win.
"And that's no easy task around the circle at Casino.''
Go Bears goes into Saturday night's Ladbrokes Road To The Egg final as fastest qualifier with a 29.71 heat win and is ready to take out the $10,000 to the winner event after drawing box two.
Amazingly, Go Bears has not had a trial this year, with trainer Ron Ulrick pointing out: "He loves swimming in a saltwater lagoon near my home and since his heat win last Saturday that is what he has done.
"A couple of swims in the lagoon is all he has needed for Saturday night.
"Early in his career Go Bears appeared to go better from wide draws but he seems to be handling inside boxes much better these days.''
An average getaway and an immediate collision ruined Mortified's prospects in last week's group 1 Australian Cup final but she recovered completely and is ready to return to her favourite track, Wentworth Park, with a bang on Saturday night.
Mortified has box three in the 520m Ladbrokes Easy Form Stakes with trainer CHRIS O'Brien planning this to be his bonny bitch's final race before the heats of the Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park on March 25.
"Mortified pulled up 100 per cent after her Australian Cup defeat and was jumping around next morning as if she was ready to go again,'' trainer O'Brien said.
"With a clean run she looks drawn to lead on Saturday night and if she does she should go close to winning.''
O'Brien could land a double as Mortified's litter brother Modern Swinger looks hard to toss in race two, a 520m fifth grade.
Modern Swinger was up punching for the lead on the first turn when he was badly checked before finishing fourth to Screaming Jet at Wentworth Park last Saturday.
Before that he had won three on the bounce at headquarters, clocking 30.22, 29.75 and 29.88.
O'Brien said: "Modern Swinger has box six on Saturday but handles outside boxes well.
"Last Saturday he was within a half-length of crossing the pacemaker to go to the front at the first turn when he was checked.
"If he had got around the leader I'm sure he would have won so I expect him to be hard to beat this Saturday.''
