Andrew Bayliss' young pup Jorelle will chase her fifth win in a row when she jumps in the Wollongong Tourism Sprint Final (472m) tonight at Bulli.
The chaser, who has still yet to turn two, has won her last four starts including last week's heat where she led all the way to win over some tough competition which included the Mark Gatt-trained Oblivious.
Bayliss has been pleased with the greyhound's recent performances and admits he was a little shocked when she won last week.
"I'm really happy with the way she has been going around recently," he said.
"I had another dog in the series and made a last minute decision to nominate her.
"She had only trialled at the track once. It's not really her track, so I was surprised when she ended up handling it so well.
"Even though she only won in a moderate time in the heats, I'm expecting her to improve a lot now she has seen track."
Jorelle will jump from box three in tonight's final and Bayliss is quietly confident she can win if she gets some luck.
"She has got a lot of pace but only jumps with the field," he said.
"With the other pace in the field, I think she will really need to lead or be in the first few to have a shot.
"In saying that though, she is going in with tonnes of confidence and she is coming out of the boxes better than she ever has. So you can't discount her."
Bayliss recalled how the start of Jorelle's racing career was in stark comparison to her recent run of form.
"She has always been a really fast dog, but earlier on she was a really bad box dog. She would always play up and miss the kick," he said.
"I did a little bit of box work with her, but mainly I was hoping she would sort herself out with a little bit more experience.
"I decided to give her a few a weeks off at the start of January and put a bit of weight on her.
"She then got drawn as a reserve at Dapto about a month ago and ended up running in a steward's trial which she won by eight lengths.
"I think that run gave her a lot of confidence and from there she has just gone on with it."
Bayliss hopes to continue racing Jorelle into the future and believes she will become a competitive racer with more experience.
"In the short-term I will probably take her to Nowra and see how she goes at that track then chase a few more races at Wentworth Park," he said.
"I'll then probably look at some age-restricted races down the track and I hope with some more experience she can get a little stronger and maybe take on some group races.
"I think she's more than capable of breaking the 30 second mark at Wentworth Park in the coming months."
Also racing at Bulli tonight is Jorelle's litter sister Velvet Flame and Bayliss believes that she may end up being the better of the two sisters.
"I actually think Velvet Flame will be a better dog than Jorelle in the future," he said.
"When I trial them together, Velvet Flame is at least two or three tenths quicker than Jorelle.
"She hasn't had a lot of luck recently and her box manners are also letting her down but if she can start coming out better, she has much more potential than her sister.
Velvet Flame will jump from box one in race seven on the program after missing the final with a disappointing heat run last week.
"She's got a good box in her race and I think that should really help her out."
