Australia's best greyhounds will converge on Wentworth Park on Saturday night for the heats of NSW's richest race, the $250,000 to the winner Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg.
Heading the nominations is last year's Easter Egg winner Striker Light, who will attempt to become the first greyhound to win the 520m event twice.
Striker Light proved she is going to be hard to beat by taking out the Group 1 Temlee at The Meadows on February 17.
"She is just back from injury and while she was unplaced at Sandown on Thursday night, there is not a thing wrong with Striker Light,'' trainer Brett Bravo.
"She is certainly going well enough to have a shot at a second Golden Easter Egg.''
Striker Light, raced by Bravo and Victorian journalist George Farrugia, has won 24 of 48 races and earned $566,000 in stakes.
Victoria will again have strong representation in the Easter Egg with Up Hill Jill, a finalist last year and the winner of the Group 1 Topgun at The Meadows on October 28, also an entry.
Other Victorian Group 1 winning stars in the mix are Raw Ability, winner of the Adelaide Cup and this year's Paws Of Thunder at Wentworth Park, Hecton Bale, who won this month's Australian Cup, National Derby winner Out Of Range, National Futurity victor Blue Sky Riot, last year's Vic Peters Classic winner Crash Bandicoot and Melbourne Cup victor Aston Dee Bee.
Aston Dee Bee's trainer Seona Thompson, who won the Easter Egg with Moreira in 2016, will also have Out Of Range, Extreme Magic, Bewildering and Poke The Bear in the Easter Egg.
Thompson has already sent three of her contingent, Extreme Magic, Bewildering and Poke The Bear, to leading Sydney trainer Jason MACKAY.
"Seona felt that trio would benefit by me taking them to Wenty for a couple of looks at the track this week,'' MACKAY said.
Extreme Magic scored his 17th win in 41 starts when he downed a hot field, including Striker Light, at Sandown on Thursday night.
Bewildering has also won 17 from 41 races while exciting youngster Poke The Bear, a winner of 14 from 23 races, has posted near record times at Traralgon and Sandown.
Andrea Dailly, who won the $250,000 to the winner Australian Cup with Hecton Bale on March 3, certainly knows what it takes to win a Golden Easter Egg.
Dailly took out the 2013 final with Grigorieva Bale and landed the prize again in 2015 with Fernando Bale, regarded as the best greyhound to win Sydney's biggest race.
Fernando Bale covered the 520m in 29.48, fastest time since the race was first held in 1990.
Queensland-trained trio Slick, Opal Nera and Snug will ensure the Victorians don't have things all their own way in the Easter Egg, while the leading local nominations include Bulli Gold Cup winner Ritza Lenny, country champion Falcon's Fury and prolific Wentworth Park winner Royal Turbo.
Semi-finals of the Easter Egg will be held at Wentworth Park on March 24 with the final a week later.
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Beast Unleashed, trained in Sydney by Jodie Lagogiane, has emerged as pre-post favourite for Melbourne's Sandown Launching Pad after posting two sensational wins at that venue.
Beast Unleashed led throughout to win over 515m at Sandown in 29.43 on March 4 before producing a repeat performance last Thursday night.
On Thursday he clocked 29.44 after recording a first split of 5.00sec.
"In his previous win Beast Unleashed's first split time was 4.94sec, only .02sec slower than the fastest ever figures, which were posted by the great Fernando Bale,'' Lagogiane's husband Peter said.
"We have been back and forth to Melbourne four times in recent weeks for trials and races with Beast Unleashed,'' Lagogiane said.
"We wanted to ensure he had wide experience on the Sandown track before the Launching Pad heats there on Thursday night.''
Semi-finals of the Launching Pad will be run on March 22 with the final, worth $150,000 to the winner, a week later.
