Trainer Jim Coyle says Evil Punk is a "90% chance" of taking his place in the second Macro Meats Golden Easter Egg semi final at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
Evil Punk was leading his Golden Easter Egg heat last week before a lure malfunction caused the field to catch the lure. Evil Punk fell as a result of the drama, but was checked by the vet after the event with no injury found.
The greyhound as well as Fort Allen were progressed through to the semi-finals after stewards made a determination that both would have qualified had it not been for the incident.
Coyle said while Evil Punk has no serious injury, he would get the vet to check him one last time before committing to a start on Saturday.
"I'm still working on him at the moment. He hasn't done any serious damage but he's pretty sore and I think he frightened himself a bit," he said.
"At the moment he is about a 90% chance of running in the semi-final but I'll know more when we go to see the vet tomorrow."
Coyle is hoping the incident from last weekend will not have an adverse affect on his greyhound if he starts in the semi-final.
"I really can't tell what affect it will have on him but I hope it won't worry him," he said.
"He had a fall a couple of weeks ago and I gave him a few weeks off to recover from that; and then just when it looks like he was going to win his heat comfortably, that whole incident happens.
"The whole field basically ran over the top of him and he was the only one to take a fall.
"He's a tough dog, but two falls in the space of three weeks is quite a bit to take."
Coyle applauded the decision of the stewards to progress Evil Punk and Fort Allen through to semi-finals.
"I think the steward's descision in the end was common sense. He was clearly going to win the race, the rest of the field was too far back to catch him," he said.
If fit enough, Evil Punk will jump from box five in the second heat on Saturday and Coyle is pleased with the draw he has been given.
"I think he's in the best heat for him. The other heats look a lot more difficult but in saying that we still have Dyna Nalin in our heat but luckily he's drawn on our outside and is a bit slower at the start which should help us," he said.
"I don't think having box five will affect him. There's probably more chance of something going wrong over the back where he took that fall."
Evil Punk has been competitive in group races since the start of the year, but as of yet has not been able to put the icing on the cake. Despite winning his semi-finals in both series, Evil Punk could only manage second place in both the National Derby and Richmond Derby.
However, Coyle is certain that Evil Punk's time will come eventually and is hoping that the Golden Easter Egg may be just the ticket.
"The dogs's given everything he's got in those big races this year. He's run fantastic times in the heats of those series and was only beaten by a head or neck in both Derby Finals," he said.
"There's not a lot more he can really do, he's just meeting good dogs in the finals. I think it's just a matter of time before he cracks it but he'll need a bit of luck.
"If he runs in the semi-final and gets a clean run and makes it through to the final, it will give him a lot of confidence and if he can an inside box then he's a real chance."
