Fastest qualifier Johnny Red's kennelmate Vamoose is a quicker greyhound but the box draw evens things up and the result of Saturday night's $75,000 to the winner GRNSW Grafton Thunderbolt will depend on the jump.
That's the opinion of 81-year-old trainer John Miles, who has Johnny Red in box one while his partner Susan Smith trains Vamoose, who has box two.
Johnny Red's 19.89 was fastest of last week's four semi-final winners while Vamoose found trouble before charging home to win in 20.23.
"Although Johnny Red went faster in the semis Vamoose is definitely a bit quicker,'' Miles said.
"But Vamoose uses a bit of the track so being in box two, he looks likely to give Johnny Red plenty of room when they leave the boxes.
"Also in Johnny Red's favour is that he had not seen the Grafton track before the semis, while Vamoose had plenty of experience there.
"I took Johnny Red to Richmond for a few races before heading to Grafton because the lures at both tracks are similar.
"They both tend to be on the quiet side so I figured that getting Johnny Red used to Richmond's less than noisy lure might help him handle the start at Grafton.
"Susan and I have been guiding these dogs towards the Thunderbolt series for quite some time so it has all come to fruition.''
While Vamoose has won 29 of 52 races and Johnny Red's tally is 12 wins from 26 appearances, no greyhound boasts a better strike rate than the 13 wins from 15 races achieved by the Hank Vanderburg-trained Speeding Fine.
Vanderburg's Richmond flying machine led throughout to win his semi-final in 20.25, slowest of the four 350m winners, and he has drawn box seven in the final.
"Although he has won plenty of races at Richmond from wide draws I would have preferred him a bit closer to the rails in this Grafton race,'' Vanderburg said.
"While Speeding Fine led pretty well all the way in his semi he did not ping the lids the way he usually does.
"He can come out a lot faster than he did in his semi and I was encouraged by the way he kept kicking on when he was put under pressure early.
"I thought he was entitled to get beaten after being challenged during the race so with a better start I think he can improve in the final.''
Speeding Fine is undefeated in two outings wearing the black rug, his vest in Saturday's final.
Running Reds won his semi-final as a $23 outsider but posted second fastest time of 19.92 and trainer John Grief is "over the moon" at drawing box eight in Saturday's final.
"Box eight is perfect, I think Running Reds is possibly the only dog in the race who won't get touched and will get a clear run all the way,'' Grief said.
"I gave Running Reds a couple of trials at Grafton before he raced there so that paid off when he won his semi.
"He is a very under-rated dog, he has only been unplaced twice of 19 starts and has won 10 of them.
"Johnny Red impressed me in the heats and I believe he will be the toughest to beat.
"My family has had greyhounds for over 30 years but I've been training seriously for just the past five years.
"This $75,000 first prize is by far the biggest cheque I've been chasing as a trainer.
"My previous biggest win was with From The Area in the $10,000 Canterbury Bankstown Cup at Potts Park on May 20, and Running Reds is also raced by that dog's owners.''
