Eight heats of the listed Ausure Regional Ultra Sense will be held at Wentworth Park on Friday night but the most absorbing clashes loom in races nine and 10 which are heats of the GRNSW Masters Series.
The $10,000 to the winner GRNSW Masters final will be held on April 9, Golden Easter Egg night, and expected to be among the finalists are Kooringa Lucy and Lots Of Chatter from heat one and Sunburnt Highway, whose task in heat two has been made easier by the withdrawal of Ebby Infrared.
Kooringa Lucy, who has box four in heat one, began smartly and led all the way to win at her Masters debut at Wentworth Park on March 23, clocking a flying 29.70.
That was .17sec faster than Kooringa Lucy's best time in six previous Wentworth Park appearances, and justified trainer Mitch Northfield's pre-race declaration that although she turned four in February, his bitch was going as well as ever.
While Kooringa Lucy will be all the rage on Friday, Victorian greyhound Lots Of Chatter will keep her on her toes.
When previously in NSW Lots Of Chatter won a heat of the Beast Unleashed Gosford Cup in a slick 29.37 before beating all but the mighty Zipping Kyrgios in the final, going down by just two lengths.
Lots Of Chatter's trainer Graeme Jose has revealed the dog trialled satisfactorily at his first look at Wentworth Park last Thursday.
"The weather was atrocious and the track was a bog, conditions were so bad I considered turning around and heading back to Victoria again,'' Jose said.
"But I gave Lots Of Chatter a box-to-box trial and his first split was 5.52, which, considering the conditions, was pretty good.
"I'm confident he can get down to 5.47 on Friday and this dog is going great at the moment.
"He had his 100th start at Bendigo on March 11 and won over 425m in 23.55, time good enough to win a Bendigo Cup.
"Box seven won't worry Lots Of Chatter because he has won from there and from box eight he has won seven of his 11 starts.''
Sunburnt Highway will be heavily supported to notch his 39th Wentworth Park win in heat two now that he has come up with box one.
Sunburnt Highway has a great record wearing the red rug, winning 12 of his 21 starts and having Black Eye Jack, a moderate beginner who tends to use a bit of the track, drawn outside him in box two.
Lots Of Chatter's trainer Graeme Jose, who prepared the 2008 National Distance Championship winner Mantra Lad, has his recent acquisition Gold Skulltula in heat six of the Ultra Sense.
"Gold Skulltula has had 34 starts for 10 wins and nine placings but I have had him for only his past few starts, after buying the dog for $20,000,'' Jose said.
"I trialled him in the rain at Wentworth Park and while the conditions were horrendous, he went awful.
''I was in two minds whether to bring him back but then I trialled him on my own straight track and he clocked 14.39 which is flying.
"If they go 14.70 they are going okay so I immediately nominated Gold Skulltula for the Ultra Sense.''
Early favourite for the Ultra Sense series is Castle Warrior, who has box four in heat two.
"He has not raced since finishing third in the Temora Cup on March 6 so I gave Castle Warrior a post-to-post slip at Wentworth Park last Tuesday and he went well,'' trainer Mark Wilcox said.
"Because of the rain and the cancellation of trials at Appin, Castle Warrior will go into this race a run short but I figure everyone else will be in the same boat.''
