Leading South Australian trainer Ben Rawlings believes his greyhound Wilba Beast can improve on his second placing last start and take out his semi final of the Group 3 Howard Ashton series (515m) at Angle Park on Thursday night.
Wilba Beast led most of the way in his heat last week before being run down in the late stages by the fast finishing Hukanui, with the winner recording the best of day time of 29.43.
Rather than viewing the result as a disappointment, Rawlings could see the positives with Wilba Beast’s run.
"He ran the second quickest time of the night and would have won any of the other heats," Rawlings said.
"He ran out of his skin and his time of 29.55 was a personal best for him as well.
"The dog that ran him down was just too classy and there's not a lot you can do when they come home strongly like that."
Wilba Beast lines up from box two in the second and arguably toughest semi-final of the night but his trainer is quietly confident.
"If he can lead, which I know he's capable of doing, they will find it tough to run him down," Rawlings said.
"Even if he's a bit behind the pace, I think he will be able to do enough to qualify for the final and then we'll just have to see how the cards fall."
Among Wilba Beast’s opponents is the in-form Allinga Val, who is trained by Yvonne King. The exciting greyhound has four wins on the trot and looks like a big chance to chance to improve her record further from box three, according to Rawlings.
"I don't like the fact that she's drawn outside of us. She's a pretty quick beginner and I would have rather been drawn in the semi-final without her in it," Rawlings said.
"But in saying that, Wilba (Beast) isn't slow either and if he jumps at his best, he will be going with her and if not, just a little bit behind her.
Rawlings admits that even if the results do not go his way over the next two weeks, he is still extremely proud of his greyhound's accomplishments so far.
"We've had him from the start. We bred and reared him and to see him come through and start racing like he's been doing recently is exciting. He's exceeded all our expectations so far."
In the other semi-final of the night, fastest heat qualifier Hukanui looks like the one to beat after coming up with box three.
His main challengers look like they could come from out wide, with fellow heat winners Team Roper and Paddy Mcbain battling it out from boxes seven and eight respectively.
The four top placegetters from each semi-final will qualify for next week's $25,000 Group 3 final.
The first semi-final is race six on the program and jumps at 8:58pm AEST.
