Six months ago trainer Jodie Lord predicted Champion Model would win a Group race in 2018 and despite being in a tough event her greyhound has a great draw in Saturday night's second heat of the Group 1 Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg.
Already the winner of the Goulburn and Canberra Cup finals, Champion Model resumes from a spell in box two.
She is up against National Futurity and Richmond Oaks winner Blue Sky Riot (box six), Silver Chief/National Derby victor Out Of Range (five) and Dapto Megastar/Adelaide Cup hero Aqua Cheetah (three) but is boxed to lead all the way.
"Champion Model hurt herself when unplaced at her last start at Wentworth Park but is fit as a fiddle now and has been flying in trials,'' trainer Lord said.
"I gave her a 440m hit-out at Canberra last week and she clocked 25.12, a couple of ticks outside the track record.''
Blue Sky Riot's trainer Anthony Azzopardi is not concerned about his greyhound's wide alley, pointing out she won last week Group 2 Richmond Oaks from box eight.
"She is a terrific race bitch who just keeps stepping up to the plate,'' Azzopardi said.
But the draw favours Champion Model who should be able to beat Tasmanian star Two Bills (box one) to the first turn while Aqua Cheetah, in three, tends to get wide.
Saturday night's Wentworth Park card comprises 10 heats of NSW's richest race, the Golden Easter Egg, and will mark the first Sydney appearance of Australian Cup winner Hecton Bale.
Hecton Bale is trained in Victoria by Andrea Dailly, who won Easter Egg finals in 2013 with Grigorieva Bale and 2015 with Fernando Bale.
"Hecton Bale is not real flash out of the starting boxes and from box seven will need a bit of luck on Saturday night,'' Dailly said.
"But he will run in a straight line to the first corner and is very strong at the end of his races.''
Dual Keroma, a winner of four of his 10 Wentworth Park races for owner-trainer Susan Pitstock, makes his debut for new trainer Anthony Azzopardi when he takes on Hecton Bale.
"I have had Dual Keroma in my kennel for two months and could not be happier with the way he is going,'' Azzopardi said.
"Dual Keroma seems ideally positioned in box eight but Hecton Bale is an awesome dog, he is an absolute machine.''
Andrea Dailly gives Hecton Bale's kennel mate Mossimo Bale, who has box four in heat seven, a strong chance.
"He has won 14 of 33 starts and won the Cranbourne Cup last month so is going extra well,'' Dailly said.
But Mossimo Bale will face stern opposition from the Melbourne Cup winner Aston Dee Bee, a Wentworth Park winner who will exit box three.
Aston Dee Bee has won four of his five races from box three and if he wins his heat will lift his earnings to a whopping $796,740.
Aston Dee Bee's trainer Seona Thompson won the 2016 Golden Easter Egg with Moreira and has a powerful contingent in this year's series.
Apart from Aston Dee Bee, a winner of 34 from 59 races, Thompson has Out Of Range in heat two, Extreme Magic (heat three, box four), Poke The Bear (heat six, box three), and the ideally drawn Bewildering in box eight in heat 10.
Jeff Collerson’s Selection’s
Best Bet - Bewildering (Race 10)
Best Value - Champion Model (Race 2)
Quaddie
Race 5 - 7, 8, 6
Race 6 - 3, 5, 1
Race 7 - 3, 2, 8
Race 8 - 3, 1
$20 for 37.03%
