Behind the numbers – Breeders Prelude Final
Behind the numbers – Breeders Prelude Final
Ahead of the final of the Breeders Prelude Final at Angle Park, GRSA’s Luke Marchioro gives you a preview of the race by taking a look at the three heats using the Isolynx Data for all the runners in tonight's final and looks at how the final might play out.
The need for speed
Thursday night saw three heats of the first 2024 Breeders Prelude and a common theme across all three events was the early speed battle.
With the likes of Zinfandel Evie, Play in Reign and Unholy Reign, early speed was going to play a key factor in the heats, however it was an unlikely source who produced the fastest first split of the race.
The Bosko Stamenkovic-trained Merindah City produced the fastest first 50 metre split across all three heats with a 3.59 first split.
Merindah City was 0.01 ahead of Springvale Blitz who went 3.60 in the same race while Play In Reign was also quick in 3.61.
While Unholy Reign was slightly slower with a 3.64 first split, its second split of 2.61 was equal fastest with Play In Reign while its 100-150m split was 2.58 which was 0.04 faster than its closest rival.
With such a focus on the early speed battle, the box draw may prove critical with the speedy Merindah Cool drawing box one while the other speed in Unholy Reign and Zinfandel Evie is drawn wider in six and eight respectively.
First Splits for Breeders Prelude Final Qualifiers
|
GREYHOUND |
50M |
100M |
150M |
|
Heat One |
|||
|
Weblec Delight (1st) |
3.71 |
2.67 |
2,66 |
|
Play In Reign (2nd) |
3.61 |
2.61 |
2.62 |
|
Zinfandel Evie (3rd) |
3.64 |
2.63 |
2.65 |
|
Heat Two |
|||
|
Unholy Reign (1st) |
3.64 |
2.61 |
2.58 |
|
Peace Belle (2nd ) |
3.68 |
2.64 |
2.62 |
|
Springvale Grace (3rd) |
3.70 |
2.66 |
2.68 |
|
Heat Three |
|||
|
Merindah City (1st) |
3.59 |
2.64 |
2.61 |
|
Zinfandel Austin (2nd) |
3.71 |
2,66 |
2,66 |
Fast finish a (Weblec) delight
While much of the focus was on the early speed, the eye-catching run home of Weblec Delight to win the first heat of the night was also impressive and the data supports how strong it was home.
Weblec Delight produced the fastest splits of any greyhound across the three heats in the final 150 metres of the race.
Weblec Delight’s 350-400m split was 2.96, more than a tength of second quicker than both leaders in Play In Reign and Zinfandel Evie.
That trend continued over the final 100m with Weblec Delight which went 3.01 over 400-450m and 3.00 450m-500m which was two tenths quicker than Play In Reign and Zinfandel Evie at both intervals.
While Merindah City and Unholy Reign were also solid home, they weren’t quite as quick as Weblec Delight in the run home.
If Weblec Delight can be close enough in the final next week, it may just have the power to run over the top of the early speed.
Run Homes for Breeders Prelude Final Qualifiers
|
GREYHOUND |
400M |
450M |
500M |
|
Heat One |
|||
|
Weblec Delight (1st) |
2.96 |
3.01 |
3.00 |
|
Play In Reign (2nd) |
3.10 |
3.21 |
3.22 |
|
Zinfandel Evie (3rd) |
3.07 |
3.25 |
3.21 |
|
Heat Two |
|||
|
Unholy Reign (1st) |
3.02 |
3.04 |
3.08 |
|
Peace Belle (2nd ) |
3.01 |
3.07 |
3.08 |
|
Springvale Grace (3rd) |
3.00 |
3.06 |
3.10 |
|
Heat Three |
|||
|
Merindah City (1st) |
2.96 |
3.02 |
3.10 |
|
Zinfandel Austin (2nd) |
3.02 |
3.03 |
3.09 |
Selections - 6,1, 3, 5
Unholy Reign is the most consistent beginner in the race and has shown her early speed across almost all her 22 race starts to this point of her career. If she begins like she can, she will lead and will take some catching especially from many of the inexperienced greyhounds behind her.
Merindah City speared out last week and was a good run home so if it can replicate that it may be tricky to keep out from the inside draw. Peace Belle is well drawn inside the kennel mate in box three and is very consistent while Weblec Delight will be powering home if it can stay in touch with the early speed.