Ducati George is all the rage to score his fifth win in seven Wentworth Park 280m appearances on Wednesday night but Queensland trainer Corey Mutton believes his greyhound Zulu Alert can spring a surprise.
Ducati George, who has won a remarkable 16 of 27 races in Tasmania and NSW, has box two, while Zulu Alert has drawn seven in the Ladbrokes Info Hub Stakes.
Mutton, who trains at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, also has Zulu Alert's litter brother Zulu Plastique in box one.
"My pair are both well drawn as Plastique likes the rails while Alert uses a bit of the track,'' Mutton said.
"They have not raced or trialled at Wentworth Park but I don't think that will worry them as they both handle Lismore perfectly and dogs that go well there invariably perform at Wenty.
"Zulu Alert is a bit quicker than Zulu Plastique so while the latter is ideally drawn, I lean to the former as my better hope.
"In her first trial at Ipswich Zulu Alert clocked 16.80 for the 288m and the track record is 16.72.
"She has not raced since winning at Grafton on August 5 but I slipped her around Lismore last week and she clocked 13.80, which is flying.''
Mutton has not raced at Wentworth Park for two years but he won with his first starter at the track, Bintang Laurie, who scored on August 19, 2017.
Leading trainer Jason MACKAY's promising sprinters Whiskey Jack and Turbo Thomas clash in Wednesday's other 280m event, the WP On Facebook Stakes.
"They have each had a couple of trials at Wenty so they know their way around the track,'' MACKAY said.
"My only concern is they are probably drawn upside down, as Whiskey Jack, who has box one, wants to use a bit of the track, while Turbo Thomas has drawn five and he tends to go towards the rails.
"Both are honest, high speed young dogs and there is nothing between them.''
That is certainly the case on their short course form, as Whiskey Jack clocked 22.53 when he won over 400m at Maitland on July 18 while Turbo Thomas recorded 22.52 at the same meeting.
Blistering has finished down the course in each of two Wentworth Park starts but the Mark Gatt-trained youngster is expected to have improve sharply after drawing box one in Wednesday's Jingle & Mingle @ WP Stakes, 520m.
Blistering found trouble from box eight when seventh on debut at WP on August 3 and again had no luck when fifth, from box seven, there last Wednesday.
"He is boxed beautifully in the one,'' trainer Mark Gatt said.
"Blistering has ability and if I trialled him solo around Wenty I would expect him to clock 29.90 or 30 seconds flat.
"But he does not have terrific early pace and there appears to be two or three speedy front-runners up against him.
"The greyhound I am most frightened of though is Electric Silk, who is perfectly positioned in box eight and looks like getting a nice run down the outside of the field.
"Blistering is in this with a real chance, but he can't afford to miss the jump and have too many ahead of him in the early stages.''
Best bet on the night should be Wynburn Lily, who has box seven in the Ladbrokes Multimaker Stakes.
Wynburn Lily raced wide when she led throughout in a smart 29.92 at Wentworth Park on August 10 and used plenty of the track again when a strong finishing second to Princess Riot there last Wednesday.
Considering she wanted to run in the centre of the course in each of her Wenty outings, Wynburn Lily should make full use of her roomy box seven draw. .
Best Best: Wynburn Lily (race 5)
Best Value: Blistering (race 6)
Quaddie race 5 - 7, 1, 2
Race 6 - 1, 8
Race 7 - 1, 2
Race 8 - 1, 6, 4
$20 for 55.55%
