Victorian greyhounds hold all the cards in Adelaide Cup heats
Thursday night's greyhound racing at Angle Park will be the feature Australian greyhound racing nationwide as four heats of the much anticipated 2023 Group 1 Adelaide Cup kick off.
With a first prize pool of $100,000 for the winner, this prestigious event will determine which greyhound takes home the title of the fastest in the country.
The first heat will undoubtedly grab everyone's attention as Ed Burrett's locally owned racer, Afire, takes on fellow Victorian chaser, Amron Boy.
Despite blowing the start, Afire managed to secure victory in a grade 5 at Angle Park last week, but will need to significantly improve upon his 30.92 winning time to trouble Amron Boy.
Afire was a recent Sandown Speed Star winner running 29.23, and made the final of the Group 2 Dapto Megastar won by Umberto, two starts back.
Despite the slow winning time at Angle Park last week, Burrett remains cautiously optimistic about Afire's chances on Thursday night.
“I don't mind his draw in the heat, but we will know how he's going to go after 20 metres.
“Just last week, it looked like he had no idea when the boxes would open, and he flopped out.
“He's a dog that's run 5.05 consistently at Sandown and The Meadows, so it's one of those things.
“Both his Dapto runs, he came out poorly too.
“He might just be a Sandown and Meadows dog,” said Burrett.
Afire is trained out of Victoria by Jason Sharp.
The Brooke Ennis-trained Amron Boy absolutely dominates the Adelaide Cup heat 1 betting as a -222.22 favourite at the best greyhound betting sites.
Some overseas owned online bookmakers have Amron Boy as short as -333.33 but you can still secure -222.22 at Neds online bookmaker.
Brooke Ennis again dominates the markets in the second Group 1 Adelaide Cup heat with Launch Code priced at +145 despite the awkward box four draw.
Local SA trainer Ben Rawlings has taken over the training of Panama Pepper for the Adelaide Cup series, and his charge looks to provide the most opposition to Launch Code off his box two draw.
Panama Pepper is capable of setting fast early splits, and the near inside box draw does nothing to harm his chances.
Jeff Britton's SA Derby finlaist Mepunga Smokey also lines up in heat 2, but will have to overcome box eight to do so.
In the recent 2023 Group 3 SA Derby final, the box seven draw was too much for Mepunga Smokey to overcome, finishing third behind in-form sprinter Schillaci.
In heat 3 of the Adelaide Cup, the Victorian-trained greyhound Big Energy is a -200 favourite on greyhound betting apps.
Trained by Jackie Greenough, Big Energy had a look at Angle Park last week in the SA Match Race series, finishing second behind Schillaci.
But despite the Angle Park track experience, Greenough is concerned about the box six draw.
“It's a bit of a different situation in Adelaide with the silent lure at Angle Park.
“The closer to the inside, the better.
“The fact Big Energy has the ‘green' rug puts a seed of doubt into my mind…
Being drawn out wide, that's the only query.”
But greyhound favourite punters can be content that Greenough is confident of a Big Energy victory provided he can repeat his 30.13 run from last week.
“If he can repeat that performance and get the start right, he'll make the Adelaide Cup final,” Greenough said.
Big Energy will face competition from Springvale Dave known for his hard railing style and Fiorano who is faultless when it comes to starting races well.
2022 Group 1 Adelaide Cup winner, Buzz Junkie, is back to defend his crown and rounds out the field starting from box two.
In the final heat, yet another Victorian raider is at the head of the greyhound betting markets
Transponder, trained by Jason Thompson, emerges as the -181.82 favourite after his run, in last weeks match race series.
Transponder finished third in last week's match races with a time of 30.23, which is comfortably faster than any of his rivals ion heat 4 of the cup.
A winner of 18 of his 35 career starts, Transponder has started eight times from the two outside boxes for six wins and two placings.
Tasmanian greyhound, Wynburn Ruby, is next best in betting at +350 but the 2023 Group 3 SA Oaks finalist will have her work cut out for her drawing outside Transponder in box eight.
With just four heats on offer, first and second from each heat will progress to next week's $100,000 to-the-winner Group 1 Adelaide Cup final.