Mark Wilcox heads to Bulli tonight with three of his runners engaged in the heats of the Group 3 Sportingbet Bulli Gold Cup - and the Bringelly trainer expects a bold showing from each of the trio.
Highly Respected (heat one, box three), Natural Player (box eight, heat two) and Knocka’s Return (box one, heat three) will all line up in the heats for Wilcox.
Knocka’s Return is returning first up from injury after being beaten in the Temora Cup final, while Natural Player - a runner-up in this year's Maitland Gold Cup - is returning from a mild kidney infection that kept him off the track for the past few weeks.
Wilcox hopes their lack of preparation will not impact on their performances too much.
“They haven’t had any game time at all since being injured and it’s a big worry for me,” he said.
“They’ve had a few trials at Bulli over the 400m but that's about the extent of their preparation. They are both right to go but I would have preferred to have given them a race or two before putting them into the heats but it hasn't worked out that way.
“It’s difficult to predict how they will go given their lack of preparation but I’m hoping their good draws will help them put in good runs and make it through to the final. They will be much better after the heats for having had a proper run.”
Meanwhile, Wilcox hopes Highly Respected can put in a solid performance despite being the weakest greyhound of the three.
“He can match it with Knocka’s Return and Natural Player over the 400m but the 472m just about sees him out,” he said.
“He’s a real honest campaigner though and puts his all into every race which is the most important thing.”
Wilcox believes that any of his greyhounds can win on the day with a good performance but thinks one dog in particular has the best chance in the series.
“Out of the three of them, I think Natural Player is probably my best chance. Knocka’s Return's lack of preparation and injury worries me and Highly Respected probably can’t match the rest of the field on times.”
There are four heats of the Bulli Gold Cup taking place with the top two from each qualifying for next week's $25,000-to-the-winner final.
Click here for fields, form and expert selections for Bulli.
