Mark Gatt is hoping quality and quantity will help him win his first ever Macro Meats Golden Easter Egg, with the Thirlmere trainer lining up seven greyhounds in the heats of Group 1 series at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
The Gatt kennel has been in terrific form over the past six months winning three Group finals since December.
Most recently, Gatt won the Group 2 Richmond Derby with Red Road, who was one of four runners trained by Gatt in the $40,000-to-the-winner feature.
Red Road will line up in heat nine of the Golden Easter Egg, with Gatt saying both he and his other six runners were all at peak fitness for Saturday night.
In heat order Gatt will have Ritza Raider (heat two), Gradence (heat three), Mexico City (heat four), Ritza Hattie (heat six), Boyce Road (heat seven), Red Road (heat nine) and Ritza Ryder (heat ten) in the Golden Easter Egg heats.
"All of them are spot on for this series," he said.
"The four that were in the Richmond Derby Final (Red Road, Boyce Road, Ritza Raider and Ritza Ryder) came through that series well. All of them except for Red Road have had at least one run between then and now and they look solid.
"Gradence pulled up well after the Maitland Cup and Ritza Hattie has had a good break of about six weeks since the Futurity Final."
The box draw for the heats has favoured most of Gatt's greyhounds and Gatt admits he probably couldn't have wished for much of a better draw.
Red Road has drawn box six in his heat of the night and looks to be the only worrying draw for Gatt, but the trainer is confident that the Richmond Derby winner is up to the challenge.
"He's got the speed to overcome (the draw) and as long as he comes out well he should be fine. You only have to run in the top three to make it through the semi-finals and if he can't do that then he probably doesn't deserve to be in it."
Gatt's other Group winning kennel-star Ritza Hattie (pictured) will line up from box two in heat six and will face some tough competition from the in-form Darren Mcdonald dog There's A Earn. Gatt is hopeful that a recent run of good form in trials will translate into a good race performance.
"Ritza Hattie has been trialling really well recently and I think she's got a perfect draw," he said.
"In the (National) Futurity Final she had a really bad draw in box eight with a wide runner on her inside which stuffed her but she's got the draw here and she should run well."
Despite having confidence in all his runners, Gatt admits that his best shot at winning the series will come from two dogs in particular.
"Red Road and Ritza Hattie are my two best chances again but all of them have a shot if they're on the money," he said.
"None of them have any excuses with the box draw except for Red Road but he has the speed to overcome it, and being a three week series they only have to be in placings to progress.
"If they're good enough they'll get the job done. They have no excuses not to run well and be competitive."
Despite having plenty of success across the state in the past, success in the Golden Easter Egg series has eluded Gatt and he believes that this year might be his year.
"This is one I'd really love to win. Obviously the quarter of a million dollars would be nice but it's also the biggest race in my home state. It would be a dream come true for me," he said.
"I've never had a dog in the final. We've had quite a few go through to the semi-finals and we won the consolation race (The Ambrisoli) with Ritza Ryder but that's been about it.
"I'll just be rapt to get one through to the final this year and once we do that I suppose I'll really want to win it then."
