Ritza Lenny was the fastest heat winner but trainer Mark Gatt concedes his greyhound faces a tough task to win Saturday night's final of the Group 2 Ladbrokes Cyril Rowe Gold Cup at Bulli.
"He will be up against it from box six, it's a terrible draw,'' Gatt said.
Ritza Lenny won his 472m heat last Saturday in a dazzling 26.10, jumping well from box seven and taking the lead at the first turn.
The other heat winners were the JODIE Lord-trained Lucky Chap in 26.11, Victoria's Jimmy Newob (26.18), Black Hole Sun (26.47) and Elantris (26.55).
"Lucky Chap clocked a first split of 9.9sec in his heat so on times, even with a clean start, Ritza Lenny is likely to be two or three lengths behind JODIE Lord's dog at the first turn.
"All the speed is in boxes one, two, three and four.
"Jimmy Newob who has box one goes out at the start, Precious Sal who has drawn two veers in, Lucky Chap has box three and he gets wide while Lagoon Pirate, who is a half brother to Ritza Lenny, has box four and goes quick early.
"But no matter what happens on Saturday I'm so proud of Ritza Lenny.
"He qualified for this race in 2016, finishing unplaced after finding all sorts of trouble in the final.
"Ritza Lenny had to have a toe amputated in April last year and was sidelined for eight months.
"I wasn't sure how he would come back because if you examined the careers of 100 greyhounds who have had a toe amputated, you would find 99 of them would be six lengths slower when they returned to racing.
"But amazingly it hasn't made a scrap of difference to Ritza Lenny, he is as good as ever.''
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Jimmy Newob is the third fastest Bulli Gold Cup finalist but is likely to start favourite after drawing box one.
Jimmy Newob, trained by Kel Greenough, came from Victoria with a huge reputation, including a win over 425m at Bendigo when he equalled the track record set by the champion sprinter Fernando Bale.
The dog lived up to his high ranking by leading throughout to win his heat from the Queenslander Precious Sal, who had just smashed the Maitland 400m record.
"Jimmy Newob will have to use box one in the final because he is only an average beginner,'' Greenough said.
"Obviously I am happy with the draw but he still needs to get a clear run if he happens to dwell at the start.
"In his favour is that Bulli is such a magnificent track.
"On tighter, circular courses, there is only a short run to the first corner so if your dog misses the start he is in trouble.
"But at least at Bulli, if they happen to bungle the start a little, there is a good long run to the first bend which gives all the dogs a chance.''
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Lucky Chap lived up to trainer JODIE Lord's expectation with his 26.11 heat win at Bulli when he came from third early to hit the front at the first turn.
"I trained him early in his career, then he had a successful stint with trainer Anthony Azzopardi in Victoria, and he has not put a foot wrong since he has come back into my kennels,'' Lord said.
"I set him for the Bulli Gold Cup a few weeks back and so far everything has gone to plan.''
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Perhaps the best boxed finalist is Black Hole Sun, who will exit box eight for Wilton trainer John Little.
Black Hole Sun has a great record from outside draws and ran down the speedy Canya Touche to win his heat in 26.47.
Black Hole Sun has won seven of his 10 races when he has drawn box eight and his Cup heat win was his 18th success in 68 starts.
