Northern Rivers trainer Reg Gardoll expects his greyhound Four Ten to make a winning debut at Grafton this evening following an impressive trial.
Four Ten won his trial over the 305m at Grafton last week in a good time of 17.70 and will now jump from box three over the same track and distance in race four tonight - the Al's Mechanical Maiden (305m).
Gardoll, who trains at Pillar Valley on the outskirts of Grafton, is confident of getting the right result with Four Ten this evening.
"It's a pretty steady field and based on times he should win comfortably, and I'd probably be a little bit disappointed if he didn't," Gardoll said.
"He's a reasonable beginner so box three isn't a bad draw for him in his first race."
Gardoll admits it has been quite a road to get his greyhound to this point after several setbacks delayed Four Ten, who turned two in March, from getting to the racetrack.
"He's a handy little dog but it's taken him a little bit longer than usual to get going," says Gardoll.
"We generally don't race our dogs until they're close to two years old anyway, but Four Ten had some issues earlier in the piece. He got kennel cough when he was younger and then he had a shoulder injury we had to deal with slowly, but everything looks to be fine now and he can finally get his first start."
While Four Ten looks to have the class edge on the rest of the field, the Brett Hastie-trained Kaz Bear in box eight could be a dark horse.
"The main danger will be (Kaz Bear). It's first two starts have been decent and it's from a good kennel so it could potentially do something," Gardoll says.
If Four Ten is successful today, Gardoll has some exciting plans in store for the greyhound.
"It's hopefully onwards and upwards from here and if he goes well tonight, I might look at putting him at the Grafton Carnival in a few weeks times," the trainer said.
Along with Four Ten, Gardoll has two other greyhounds engaged in tonight's meeting.
Oh Boy (box five, race six, 480m) is a littermate of Four Ten, and Gardoll rates him as the better greyhound out of the two.
"I think Oh Boy is the stronger of the two. He will probably be a middle distance dog eventually, whereas Four Ten will probably struggle beyond the 450m," he said.
"(Oh Boy's) a solid dog but very unpredictable. One week he will jump in front and lead all the way and the next he'll end up at the back.
"It's clear when you look at his record and he's got three wins and three last places. He's got plenty of ability but just doesn't have his head screwed on straight enough at the moment to be consistent."
Gardoll's other runner tonight is Shags who jumps from box six in race five, the first heat of the ClockTower Hotel Sprint Series (480m).
"Shags has got a lot ability. If he can get forward early, he will be hard to beat."
In other racing action, the Sonia Kempshall-trained Slender Jappa has been in flying form recently with an impressive best of night win in 17.37 last week over the 305m.
He looks set to make it back-to-back wins tonight jumping from box seven in race seven, the Carters Canine Capers Stakes in which he jumps to the 407m trip.
Another last start winner, Miss Wyoming, also looks primed to make it two wins in-a-row tonight in race eight, the Grafton Radio Taxi's Stakes (407m).
The Peter Simpson-trained greyhound has drawn well in box two and looks to have the edge on the rest of the field.
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