Canya Love Me has plenty on her rivals in Saturday night's GBOTA Welcome Maiden final and on times only has to step away reasonably well to win comfortably.
In the October 20 heats, Canya Love Me led throughout from box eight, and although racing wide and fading slightly in the straight she won by two lengths from Big Tuna in 29.67.
All sectional times also favoured Canya Love Me as the Jason Magri-trained bitch carved out brilliant early splits of 5.38 and 13.72 before running home in a handy 11.79.
The Tony Godden-trained Trunkey Mink's sectional times were 5.49 and 13.98 while her run home was a moderate 12.18.
Big Tuna, who took ground off Canya Love Me in the straight, looks hardest to beat in the final but while he chased the winner all the way last week, he moves from box one in the heats to box four on Saturday.
Canya Love Me
Oscar Boaz has not broken 30sec at Wentworth Park but the winner of two from five races at headquarters is ready to do just that according to Ricky Brewer, whose wife Caitlyn trains the son of Fernando Bale.
Oscar Boaz has box one in Saturday's Ladbrokes Sports Bar Stakes, a 520m fifth grade, and Ricky Brewer is quietly confident.
"He has finally drawn a good box and as long as Daniel Gatt's strong finisher Blue Goose Boy isn't sitting right behind Oscar Boaz, I think our dog can win.
"Oscar Boaz is going better than ever and I can't see why he won't break 30sec this preparation because he is stronger at the end of 520m than he was last campaign.''
Oscar Boaz
Owner-trainer Craig Watts has lost no time getting his gallant campaigner Chasing Fernando into Masters class with the dog turning four on Friday and stepping out for the first time in veteran class 24 hours later.
Chasing Fernando has box seven in the Ladbrokes Hub second and third grade 520m Masters and although the dog has not won since May his trainer said: "He is trialling as well as he has ever gone.
"He is not long back from a trip to Queensland where he finished third in the Townsville Cup on August 25.
"At his only subsequent start, Chasing Fernando finished seventh to Eyes To Eyes in a harder race at Wentworth Park last Saturday but he had no luck in that race.''
Chasing Fernando has box seven on Saturday but has shown he can handle a wide draw, having contested 14 races wearing the black rug for two wins and five placings.
Eyes To Eyes goes into Saturday night's Dogs Only fifth-grade final as the fastest qualifier and trainer Neville Brown believes a slight change in training routine contributed to the dog posting his best Wentworth Park time of 29.88 in last week's heat win.
Neville Brown said: "I decided to work him harder and began by backing him up from racing on Wednesday, October 18 to last Saturday's heats.
"The idea was to make him stronger at the finish but while I was worried it might diminish his early pace, he still showed plenty of zip yet definitely got to the line better than he has previously.
"Eyes To Eyes has box five on Saturday but I think the draw is okay because he uses a bit of the track and I actually like him drawn in the middle.''
The prized rails box in the final has gone to Hurricane's Fury, who has won four of his eight appearances wearing the red rug.
In last week's heats Peter Mantach's Tail 'Em Up led throughout from box one while Hurricane's Fury, who had box four, was hampered slightly at the first turn before chasing the winner all the way.
Trainer Joe McFadyen said: "I told his owners that Hurricane's Fury had to draw inside Tail 'Em Up if he was going to beat him in the final and we've got box one while Tail 'Em Up has drawn seven.
"Hurricane's Fury came to the kennels I run with my partner Kat with something like three wins from 20 starts but has seems to have relished being part of a small operation and receiving lots of personal attention.
"Hurricane's Fury is a borderline group dog but he is a group one trier as far as we are concerned.''
