A mechanical lure breakdown prevented Old Mate Koby trialling at Wentworth Park on Tuesday night but trainer Mick Blissett is confident that mishap won't prevent the dog scoring his third win in as many starts at headquarters on Saturday.
Old Mate Koby, who has box three in the 520m Ladbrokes Back Yourself Stakes, was about to have a post-to-post hand-slip on Tuesday when a bearing driving the lure snapped and the trials were abandoned.
"I had to take him home again but it's no big deal because I gave him a hit-out at Richmond the following day so he is ready for Saturday night,'' Blissett.
"From his good draw on Saturday Old Mate Koby should only need to begin cleanly and he has been doing that consistently in his races.
"I could have put Old Mate Koby in last week's Vic Peters Classic but I am 'old school' and felt he wasn't ready to take on the big guns just yet, I prefer to bring my dogs along steadily.''
Hardest for Old Mate Koby to beat on Saturday night looms as the CHRIS Carl-trained Rock Or Bust, who found trouble from box one at Wentworth Park last week and is ideally positioned in box eight on Saturday.
Trainer George Borg is keen on the chances of Dawn Juan, who has box one in Saturday's opening event, the 520m GBOTA Welcome Stakes.
Dawn Juan finished second, beaten a length, by Old Mate Koby at Wentworth Park on July 8 before finishing third, two lengths from the winner Black Rampage, at Wenty on Wednesday.
"From behind the starting boxes I noticed Dawn Juan almost getting pushed into the fence soon after the start on Wednesday so from box one she gets her chance on Saturday,'' Borg said.
"She has been trialling really well and is due to win her third Wentworth Park race.''
Ritza Coen, who has won three of his past four Wentworth Park races and who clocked a blistering 29.49 in his July 1 success, looks the pick of in-form trainer Mark Gatt's three qualifiers in Saturday's $15,000 to the winner Ladbrokes Switch Final.
Ritza Coen won his heat in 29.98 but would have gone quicker had he not been checked off the heels of Fernando Porche, the eventual runner-up, on the back straight.
Gatt, who will also be represented by Ritza Gloria and Beau Herrera, along with Hunter Valley trainer Jason MACKAY, who has two qualifiers, will provide five of the eight runners in Saturday's final.
MACKAY qualified with Immediate, who has box one, and Aston Lee (box two), who won his heat in the fastest time of 29.81.
"My pair are both front-runners so there is a worry they could get tangled up together through being drawn alongside each other,'' MACKAY said.
"But Immediate and Aston Lee both need to be drawn inside to be genuine chances so their prospects would be far less if they were drawn wide.
"Aston Lee can really hit the lids and Immediate led to the home bend when third in his heat so I'm hoping they can be running one-two on the first corner.''
In last Saturday's heats, Aston Lee and Immediate posted identical first sectional times of 5.47 before recording 13.87 and 13.90 respectively for their second splits.
Tatachilla, who joined the rare group of greyhounds to win "first-up'' over 720m at Wentworth Park on July 8, proved he took no harm from that slick 42.42 all-the-way win by scoring over 520m at Bathurst on Monday.
Tatachilla has box three in Saturday's 720m Thanks & Good Luck Gail Thorsby Stakes and trainer Greg Hore is happy with that draw.
"I like him drawn near the fence and got the shock of my life when he jumped in front to win over the 200m shorter trip at Bathurst on Monday,'' Hore said.
"But Sorry Scott, who clocked 42.27 when she finished second to Pearl Of Tahiti at Wentworth Park last Saturday, is going to be hard to toss.''
