Mark and Daniel Gatt will make the trek from Thirlmere in the Southern Highlands to Unibet Gardens in the Hunter Valley with a strong team of seven to contest this afternoon's heats of the Group 1 National Derby and National Futurity.
Headlining the Gatts charge towards winning both feature races is two-time Group winner Ritza Hattie (pictured) and Group 1 Paws Of Thunder finalist Boyce Road.
Ritza Hattie will start from box two in heat four of the Futurity while Boyce Road is in box six for the last of four heats of the Derby.
She's Scandalous will start from box one in heat three of the Futurity while the Gatts' other Derby runners are Ritza Danny (box two, heat one), Black Road (box seven, heat one), Ritza Raider (box six, heat two) and Red Road (box eight, heat three)
"It's good to have a bit of a team to take to The Gardens and hopefully we can get most of them through to the semi-finals the following week," Mark Gatt said.
"All the dogs we are taking are going good but both the Derby and Futurity heats are very strong so it's just a matter of going week-to-week and hoping we have some left in both finals.
"If you finish in the first four this week you go into the semis so that is the goal - then the serious stuff starts."
Ritza Hattie has race experience at the track, having finished second to Premier Mozz in the Laurie Healion Memorial Maiden Final on August 2 last year after winning her heat in a flying 29.41.
"Both Ritza Hattie and Ritza Danny have race experience at the track while all the other dogs with the exception of Boyce Road have trialled at The Gardens," Gatt said.
"With Boyce Road making the Paws Of Thunder final we didn't get time to trial him there.
"It's not ideal but hopefully he'll handle the track alright.
"I'm more concerned about Ritza Hattie because the dog in the red (Lani Banarni) takes a step to the right out of the boxes so she'll probably get a bump early on but hopefully she's good enough to overcome that."
Group 1 Brisbane Cup winner Kiss Me Ketut (box seven) and fellow Victorian Gimme Fuel (box three) clash in heat two of the Derby with early fixed odds TAB markets having the pair as equal favourites at $3.20.
Kiss Me Ketut races well from a wide draw and although she has been beaten in her three starts since her Albion Park win she does look well placed.
Gimme Fuel is hit and miss at the start but if he finds the early lead is certain to be hard to run down.
Best Bet: Ritza Hattie (Race 7)
Best Value: Topper Harley (Race 2)
Quaddie: Race 5 - 1, 5, 3, 4
Race 6 - 8, 4
Race 7 - 2
Race 8 - 6, 5, 3
$20 for 83.33%
