Aston Barak, one of 1200 greyhounds owned by Adelaide-based Ray Borda, has a golden opportunity to qualify for the TAB Million Dollar Chase final after drawing ideally in the weakest of eight "sudden death" semis at Wentworth Park on Friday night.
The Jason Fletcher-trained Aston Barak has box eight in the seventh semi-final and should only need to begin reasonably well to win.
He came out running from that box when he defeated group one winner Gatlin in the $50,000 Southern Stars final at Goulburn on July 29 and his best Wentworth Park 520m time, a flying 29.60, was posted from another wide draw, box seven.
Closest greyhound to Aston Barak's quickest Wentworth Park time is Hold Me Up, who clocked 29.73 on May 14.
But Hold Me Up is, according to trainer Joe Comito, "desperate'' for box one, and has drawn poorly in five.
And while Aston Barak has been first past the post nine times at Wentworth Park, his opponents have won just seven races between them.
Aston Barak seems to have a knack of producing his best form in big races as apart from the Southern Stars, he qualified for last year's group 1 Vic Peters Classic at WP before defeating crack bitch Good Odds Cash in a semi-final of the 2021 Flight To The Phoenix, also at headquarters.
He then won his way into the semi-finals of this year's initial Million Dollar Chase at Wentworth Park on April 29.
Peter Lagogiane, the only trainer to have won the Million Dollar Chase twice - with Mystic Riot in 2018 and Handsome Prince two years later - has a great chance of having a crack at a third final with French Martini drawing box one in the fourth semi-final.
"She has not raced since August 27 but I gave French Martini a post-to-post slip at Wentworth Park last Saturday and she clocked 23.77,'' Lagogiane said.
Track watchers believe that is possibly the fastest hand-slip ever posted at Weny.
French Martini has not previously drawn box one but she is undefeated in four races from boxes two, three and four so relishes being positioned near the rails.
But she cannot afford to put a foot wrong as Plaintiff, trained by Victoria's Jason Thompson, is "airborne" at present and has won his past five starts at Temora, Shepparton, Sale and Horsham, in near track record times.
Plaintiff, who has box eight on Friday, is an outside draw specialist, having scored five wins from eight appearances wearing the black and pink rugs.
Zipping Maserati, a recent addition to owner Marty Hallinan's kennels, has settled in well to according to his new trainer.
"I got him 10 days ago and while he was a bit nervous the first night, he adapted very quickly,'' Hallinan said.
"He has just had a hit-out at Dubbo and went extra well so I expect him to run a big race on Friday, especially as he looks close to ideally drawn in box eight.''
"She hasn't raced since winning from box one at Wentworth Park on September 3 but had a box-to-box trial at Dapto on Friday and went up the straight on Monday,'' trainer CHRIS O'Brien said.
"I wanted box one in a tough race like this so now it's up to her.''
