Sawyers Gully greyhound trainer Darryl Thomas reckons Xerri needed the inside box to have a chance in Friday's feature race at The Gardens.
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And now that the 22-month-old dog has scored the No.1 rug, Thomas feels they can contest for the $4500 winner's prize.
"I think we had to draw the inside box to have a good chance," Thomas said.
"Now we've got that hopefully we have a good chance."
Xerri started his career with a win at Maitland last month and has been placed in all three starts since, including another victory at The Gardens a fortnight ago.
Last week Xerri came second at the Newcastle track to qualify for the Ladbrokes Red Dog Final, a fifth grade event over 515 metres.
His time of 29.67 seconds was slightly slower than the 29.39s he recorded on March 13.
"He's very fast and he's going well," Thomas said.
"I think he's got a lot of upside and he'll be even better in another six-to-eight months."
Thomas said the upcoming decider was a "pretty good race", which also includes Richmond Vale trainer Jason Mackay via Beer Talking and Aston Lee.
"The dog [Promising] that beat him [Xerri] last week will be hard to beat again," Thomas said.
"Jason Mackay has a couple of good ones in there as well and the No.7 [Arctic Kingdom] hasn't been beaten in five or six starts."
Further limitations on attendees at tracks were announced by Greyhounds NSW on Thursday in relation to the global coronavirus pandemic.
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