Some of the best one-turn specialists in Australia head to Bendigo tonight for Heats of the Group 2 Skill Training Victoria Bendigo Cup (425m).
There will be five Heats in total with Melbourne Cup winner Black Magic Opal (pictured) taking part alongside Maitland Gold Cup winner Paw Licking and the victor of last year's edition of the Bendigo Cup Ronan Izmir.
Ronan Izmir will line up in Heat one where he has drawn beautifully in box one.
The Jason Thompson-trained chaser should have room to move in his Heat following the scratching of Good Old Oscar from box two, and one would think only bad luck will prevent Ronan Izmir from qualifying for Sunday's final.
Heat two sees the race return of Paw Licking who has had a couple of weeks off following his top win in the Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup.
Paw Licking will jump from box eight - the same draw he had for the Maitland Gold Cup final - and will no doubt start a very short odds-on favourite.
If Paw Licking can win the Bendigo Cup it will be his fifth at group level.
Paw Licking's biggest challenge in his Heat looks to be Empire Allen who rebounded from a disappointing display in a Heat of the Golden Easter Egg with a solid second at The Meadows last weekend.
The third Heat will see Deadly Vane go up against Whata Good Size with punters unable to seperate the duo at this early stage.
Black Magic Opal will line up from box one in Heat four. He comes into the race off a brilliant win at Warragul where he came close to breaking the 460m track record.
Like Paw Licking, Black Magic Opal is likely to start at skinny odds but he could have some competition early on from Veyron Bale, whose form is better than it looks on paper.
The final Heat is a more open affair with local-trained greyhound Matt's Entity likely to start favourite.
The winners from each Heat as well as the fastest three second place finishers will qualify for Sunday's Group 2 Bendigo Cup.
Racing starts tonight at 6.58pm with the first cup Heat jumping at 8.18pm.
Best Bet: Matt's Entity (Race 9)
Best Value: Knocka Express (Race 7)
Quaddie: Race 5 - 1
Race 6 - 8
Race 7 - 1, 3, 4
Race 8 - 1
$20 for 666.66%
