Chris Halse believes his greyhound Ramifications is in the box seat to claim Saturday night's Group 2 WA Derby Final (race six, 520m) at Cannington.
Ramifications was made to work hard for his heat win last week, battling all the way with My Silver Chisel before coming home strongly on the line to win by just over a length in 30.26.
Halse hopes Ramifications will improve on that run tomorrow in the WA Derby.
"He definitely did it the hard way last week but I think he will be better for it," Halse said.
"His start could have been better but he just showed how strong a dog he is at the finish."
Ramifications has a blistering personal best time of 29.88 at Cannington which he set in a heat of the Perth Cup last month and Halse believes if he can reproduce that form, he will be extremely difficult to beat.
"I'll think he'll be winning it easily if he runs that sort of time again," Halse says.
"It probably won't happen though because they've predicted big thunderstorms and strong winds around the area which will make conditions a lot tougher and introduce a few variables."
Halse's main worry is Ramifications' wide draw in box eight but thinks the greyhound is good enough to overcome it.
"He will need a bit of luck from out wide. The statistics from box eight at Cannington aren't great, but he does like a little bit of room early so it's not a completely bad draw," says the trainer.
Another WA Derby finalist from Halse's kennel is West On Gaz, who was unlucky to be run down in the final stages of his heat last week by Junk Yard Wolf.
Halse also expects West On Gaz to improve in tomorrow's final after the greyhound was put on a light training regime this week.
"He got badly galloped on in the early of stages last week. I think that may have had a bit to do with him being run down actually," the trainer admitted.
"Because of that I haven't been able to work him all week and I've just had him on the lead.
"I don't think it's a bad thing though because he could come into it a bit fresher than some of the others in the field."
West On Gaz will jump from box three, a favourable draw according to Halse.
"He usually begins really well and the draw will help him in that respect. There's just a question over his lack of experience.
"He's very capable on his night though and has run 30.20 around Cannington. If he gets to the front and runs that sort of time, they'll be hard pressed to run him down."
Also in with a good chance in tomorrow’s final is the Enzo Crudeli-trained Shell Shocked, who was the fastest qualifier from last week's heats.
The promising young dog will be looking for his fifth win from 10 career starts and can handle a wide draw which will help him after he drew box seven.
The David Hobby-trained Monaro Monelli could be the value runner in the field having drawn the gun alley in box one.
Despite being beaten in last week's heats, the greyhound showed good pace in the final stages of the race.
Alongside his two WA Derby finalists, Halse also has nine runners engaged in the heats of the Group 2 WA Oaks tomorrow night.
Halse believes his best chance in that series is Times Square, who jumps from box three in the fourth and final heat of the night.
"She is probably the quickest greyhound we have in our kennels at the moment," says the trainer.
"I put her round Cannington the other day and she ran 30.14 which is a pretty handy time for a greyhound who hasn't seen a lot of the track.
"The only issue with her is inexperience with two-turns tracks. However, if she can run a clean race, I'll expect a big win."
The first Group 2 WA Oaks heat is at 9:30pm AEST before the Group 2 WA Derby Final jumps at 10:47pm AEST.
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