An ideal rails draw in Friday night's heat gives the Michael Clayton-trained Sunset Warrior a great chance of giving his trainer another crack at the Ladbrokes Graeme Hull Memorial Wagga Gold Cup final.
Sunset Warrior overcame a wide draw to win over 520m at Nowra on Monday and while he has not seen the Wagga track Clayton is not concerned.
"All tracks come alike to Sunset Warrior, who is a good chasing dog, and I've found that greyhounds which can handle the first turn at Nowra can get around Wagga okay.''
Clayton's Slick Simzy was runner-up in last year's Wagga Cup final, chasing home the Paul Braddon-trained Ferrero Miss after defeating that greyhound in his heat.
"Sunset Warrior is the first greyhound raced by Greg Schofield and his family who are all dairy farmers so they would be over the moon to win a Cup final,'' Clayton said.
Sunset Warrior has box one in heat two, while last year's winner Ferrero Miss, who was sent out as the rank outsider in 2017, has drawn box five in Friday's first heat.
Ferrero Miss has won 11 races while her kennelmate Spring Jazz, a winner of a dozen outings, will exit box seven in heat three.
Interesting runners are locally-trained duo Aqua Cheetah, who has box one in heat one, and Aqua Divergent, who will start from box seven in heat two.
They are trained by Tia Robertson, who has enjoyed a tremendous run of success with the pair.
Aqua Cheetah, who turned four in March, is a Group 1 winner who has not raced since finishing fourth in a heat of the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park on March 17.
But he has won 28 of his 80 races and earned over $316,000 in prizemoney, so drops in class at Wagga.
Aqua Cheetah's litter brother Aqua Divergent is no slouch either, having won 14 races including a near record 26.03 performance over 457m at Temora at his most recent start on April 21.
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Fastest qualifier Two Times Twice has drawn one of the easier semi-finals but is poorly boxed in Friday night's second round of the Ladbrokes Richmond Riches.
That's the opinion of trainer John Finn, who has four semi-finalists, all members of the remarkable Fernando Bale-Chica Destacada litter whelped in April, 2016.
Finn's heat winners were Veloce Nero, who clocked 30.62 and has box three in the second semi, Two Times Twice (30.44, fourth semi) and Poco Dorado, who drew box one in the third
semi after coming from well back to win her heat in a mediocre 31.09.
The Cranebrook trainer also qualified with Blue Moon Rising, who finished second in a fast 30.51 heat and has box three in the opening semi-final.
"Two Times Twice and Poco Dorado look to be in the easier semi-finals but they don't like to be crowded and would be better suited drawn out wide, especially Poco Dorado,'' Finn said.
"Veloce Nero and Blue Moon Rising are boxed okay but have drawn tough races.''
Nowra Puppy Classic winner Sky Wave, who has exited box one to win her past four starts, looks Blue Moon Rising's toughest rival despite getting box six.
Sky Wave is a fast beginner and while she was beaten in her only race from box six, she is undefeated in three outings from box seven.
Her early brilliance can offset her wide draw.
The big improvers opposed to Queensland Derby winner Two Times Twice are likely to be Midnight Starlet (box three) and Tom's Desire (box eight).
Midnight Starlet was disadvantaged by her wide box seven draw when a strong finishing third in Veloce Nero's heat and has trialled 30.50 at Richmond.
Tom's Desire found trouble when fourth to Uncle Donuts in a 30.89 heat but is ideally positioned on the extreme outside and boasts the excellent strike rate of eight wins and six placings
from 18 starts.
