The father-son training combination has two starters in the series finals at Wannon Park.

Two-year-old Ready For Love will start favourite from box seven in the $1650 Norlane Hotel series final for grade five dogs over 390 metres.

He raced home in his heat in 22.19 seconds.

River Hi, which turns four next week, has box six for the $5000 Cat Rental Store series final for grade four and five dogs over 450 metres.

He ran second in his heat in 25.64 seconds, behind Eurico Bale which clocked the fastest heat time of 25.32

Ray Drew yesterday played up the chances of the New South Wales-bred pair winning on their home track.

He said Ready For Love had 11 wins and four placings from 22 starts while his Victorian form reads a win and a place from three starts.

“He just broke the track record at Appin before he came down here,” he said.

“One of the reasons he came down here is he’s a very fast dog down the straight, and Appin is a straight track.

“They wanted to give him a go on the short courses down here.

“He’s only a young dog as far as racing goes.  He’s got a bit of racing ahead.”

River Hi has 19 wins and 29 placings from 92 starts.

He has been in the top three at Warrnambool six times from eight starts and has $23,900 in prizemoney.

“He was purchased about eight months ago by a syndicate of Warrnambool people — their first greyhound,” Drew said.

“They were looking for a greyhound, we saw one advertised from New South Wales and we got him down here.

“Since he’s come down he’s won eight races for them and won just on $13,000 in prizemoney.”

Drew said the Warrnambool Seaside Carnival, which has seven meetings in 15 days, was great for greyhound racing in the coastal city.

“It’s been a great carnival for us over the years, we’ve won two Vic Breeders series in that time,” he said.

“We’ve always been around the mark in it. Being in two finals is a good effort.”

Warrnambool Greyhound Racing Club general manager Gary Parsons said the carnival had been “fantastic”.

“Everything has been up — attendance, turnover. It’s been one of our most successful carnivals,” he said.

“A lot of promotion was done. We had a lot of children’s activities which brings a lot of people to the course.

“And we had Camp Australia here on Friday night. There were kids everywhere,” Parsons said.

afawkes@fairfaxmedia.com.au