The Palmerbet Final over the 440m (race 10) sees leading trainers Neil Staines from  Yass, Jodie Lord  from Gunning and Denice Warren of Goulburn, provide five of the eight finalists.

Country Commet from the Staines kennel has the speed to offset the awkward box five draw in the final after running the fastest first section in last week’s heats. Staines other runner, Bazaar McKenzie, is also a good chance given his favourable draw in box four.

Lord, meanwhile, has Bombshell Bandit and Champion Model both through in the final after finishing first and second respectively in last week’s heats while Warren has Smooth Blend sitting in box eight.

While the three trainers dominate the field, they could all be trumped by the Beverley Mahoney-trained Returned Hero. Returned Hero was the fastest qualifier for today’s final with a sizzling 24.96 for the 440m from box eight last week and has again drawn similarly in the seven box for this week’s final.

In other Goulburn action, Bali Blee, who was a fast finishing second last week behind Silent Sonny, could prove hard to beat in race eight (440m). Trained at Tallong by Subawa Ngurah, Bali Blee races well on the spacious Goulburn circuit having recorded three of his seven victories at the track and is a recent winner at Wentworth Park.

The greyhound’s main competition looks like coming from Combined Effort and Brilliant Shot. Combined Effort is well drawn in the rails alley and led throughout to score at Goulburn last month while Brilliant Shot should perform well after returning from an interstate campaign earlier in the year.

A number of quality speedsters are engaged in race nine (350m). Veteran performer Spiders Brother and track specialist Hardaway Highway will clash with early speedsters Say Saying and Tijuana Icon, in  a tantalising dash. Spiders Brother and Hardaway Highway have won 58 races between them and although getting on in age, both relish this track and distance. 

Four Goulburn to Richmond heats over the 350m also form part of a strong support program. The first race at Goulburn is at 11.30am.