Goldmine Fire and Firethorn, who had reached the final of last week's abandoned Queensland Cup, have trialled brilliantly at Grafton in preparation for Wednesday's 660m Stayers Cup at the Northern Rivers circuit.
Goldmine Fire, who made the pace when second to crack Victorian stayer Ethanol Water in a heat of the 710m Queensland Cup at The Q Parklands on June 26, broke the post-to-post record in Friday's Grafton trial, clocking 33.20.
Firethorn
His Mark Moroney trained kennelmate Firethorn, who led all the way to win her heat of the Queensland Cup and has long been considered slightly superior to Goldmine Fire, recorded 33.25 in her Grafton hit-out.
"The previous best was 33.24 so Goldmine Fire and Firethorn are really on song for the Stayers Cup,'' Moroney said.
"Three greyhounds I bred are also in Wednesday's Group 3 Ladbrokes Grafton Cup final over 450m, with my uncle Mick Landrigan qualifying with Apache Tiger in box one and Heroic Federer in box eight while I have Fire Me Up in box five.
"Apache Tiger has drawn perfectly in box one because he has won each of his four races from that alley.
"He is really more of a 600m greyhound than a 450m specialist but he is simply a high quality dog.
"There is an incredible amount of early speed in the 450m Grafton Cup, as most of the finalists went like a rockets for the first split with Peter Lagogiane's Badger's Beast breaking the initial section record, clocking 8.79.''
Because of the abundance of early zip among the 450m finalists, David Geall, trainer of fastest heat winner Spritely Sian, concedes his greyhound will need to began brilliantly to win from box six.
Spritely Sian, raced by NSW western districts owner Tyler Ginn, had box one when she led throughout to win her heat in 25.01.
Geall, the Victorian based trainer who won the 2018 Group One Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park with Up Hill Jill, said: "Tyler sent Spritely Sian down to me after she won a 318m maiden at Dubbo and a low grade 340m race at Gunnedah 12 months ago.
"He was confident Spritely Sian would be suited by races over slightly longer distances on Victoria's one-turn tracks.
"Actually Spritely Sian has exceeded their expectations because she has managed to win twice over 525m at The Meadows and over 515m at Sandown but she retains her terrific early pace.
"Spritely Sian has clocked sizzling splits like 6.38 at Warragul, 6.41 at Shepparton, 8.18 at Geelong, 5.00 at The Meadows and 4.99 at Sandown but she still faces a tough task from box six on Wednesday.
"She really needed to draw one, two, three or even box eight, to have a strong chance, but anything can happen if she nails the start.''
One trainer who knows his finalist has virtually no prospect of being the early leader is Jason Mackay, the prolific group one winning conditioner of Tracker, who has box two.
Tracker came from last out of box four at the start to win his heat in 25.16, finishing brilliantly down the outside after being fourth on the home bend.
"Earlier in his career Tracker wanted to run off the track but he is holding his line from the boxes now and recently won in a flying 29.15 over 515m at The Gardens,'' Jason Mackay said.
"But realistically in Wednesday's Cup final there are going to be a lot of dogs in front of him going to the first turn.
"Tracker will be storming home in the straight but for him to win he will need the pacemakers to tangle each other up in the early stages.''
