THE fields have been finalised for two of the five feature events of the Gold Rush Carnival for 2019 after some exciting heats were conducted on Sunday in the Belle and Beau of Bendigo greyhound racing series'.
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The Belle of Bendigo looks set to be a battle between speed and strength, after two impressive performances to win their respective heats were put up by Barinya and Rothwell Gal.
Rothwell Gal gave her opposition a start after being second last out of the boxes, but exploded to the line with a 12.45 second run home time to post a slick 23.857 win in the third heat.
Not to be outdone, local speedster Barinya stepped out in the final heat and scorched around the track in 23.613, including sizzling sections of 6.46 and 11.21, taking her record to six wins from seven career starts.
Rothwell Gal moves from box six to box one for the final, while Barinya will carry the yellow rug, not too different to box six she exited in her heat.
The boys were not as fast as the girls in this years heats with Inkling posting the fastest heat time of 23.947 - the only heat of the Beau of Bendigo to break 24 seconds.
Inkling was very strong in his heat as was evident in a recent smart 25.43 Ballarat win and will be hard to beat in the final, as will the speedy pair of Tickle My Fancy and Havelock Keith.
Both Tickle My Fancy and Havelock Keith clocked 11.43 to the second marker before scoring 24.067 and 24.128 wins respectively.
Tickle My Fancy has posted 23.74 at Bendigo previously and Havelock Keith was resuming from a brief let up and both are likely to show some improvement come finals day.
Sunday's support card included a quality 500m event with a line-up including recent fast Meadows winner Reiko Rocketta, the speedy Hennessey Venom and last start Mount Gambier Cup placegetter Pure White Evil.
After carving out near record sectionals it was Hennessey Venom that proved too slick for his rivals in 27.957 holding out Pure White Evil and Reiko Rocketta with the trio likely to face off again next Sunday in the Ag Tyres and Wheels Easter Cup.
The Aussie Infrared Belle of Bendigo and McIvor Road Vet Centre Beau of Bendigo finals carry a first prize of $3000 plus a Vicgreys bonus and will be held at the BGRA's big Easter Sunday race meeting on April 21 alongside the Jarrod Larkin Concreting Gold Rush Maiden final, the Grays Bendigo Stayers Cup and Ag Tyres and Wheels Easter Cup.
The 2019 Gold Rush Carnival continues on Wednesday with four semi finals of the Jarrod Larkin Concreting Gold Rush Maiden as well as three heats of the Aussie Infrared Bendigo to Meadows series for female greyhounds over 500m.