Sooty Keeping won the Gosford Cup Consolation in much faster time than Gets Late Early took to win the Beast Unleashed Cup and is ready to soar into Saturday week's group 1 Ladbrokes National Futurity final.
The Charmaine Roberts-trained bitch has box one in Saturday night's first heat of the Futurity at Wentworth Park and the trainer's partner Shayne Stiff is pleased with that draw.
"Although Sooty Keeping uses a little bit of the track she jumps better from inside boxes,'' Stiff said.
"Charmaine has always had a huge opinion of Sooty Keeping because from day one she has been one of the fastest we've ever had.
"We took her to Gosford for the Cup heats on December 27 without a trial on the track but that was a mistake and she finished fourth.
"Some dogs go okay without a trial but Sooty Keeping's fourth told us she needed a look at a track before contesting a race because she came out and won the Consolation in 29.05, fastest time of the night.
"She is in a strong heat on Saturday but providing she gets away as cleanly as we expect her to from box one she will be hard to beat and should make Saturday week's final.
"Sooty Keeping only turned two on Wednesday so has a big future.''
Speedy Pie, who won her heat of the Beast Unleashed Gosford Cup in a quick 29.29 before finishing sixth in the final, appeals as Saturday night's best bet after drawing box eight in the Ladbrokes Sports Bar Stakes, a 520m fifth grade.
Speedy Pie wore the pink rug when she clocked a blistering 22.12 over 400m at Bulli on December 3 and trainer Jason Magri confirmed: "She really likes being out there, she should be hard to beat on Saturday.''
Magri also has Zipping Kristoff and Zipping Grinch in heats one and four of the group 1 Ladbrokes National Derby on Saturday.
"Zipping Kristoff has box eight but he will handle the draw okay providing he jumps cleanly,'' Magri said.
"I give him a good chance and while Zipping Grinch is in a tough heat he has drawn nicely in box two and has a hope providing he gets a sit behind the likely pacemaker Mark To Market.''
Since it was first staged in 1963, no Western Australia-trained dog has won a National Derby but the Shayne Williams-trained pair Iconic Jet (box six, heat two) and Rippin' Moses (box four, heat three) give that state a great chance this year.
Iconic Jet trialled a slick 29.79 at WP on January 4 despite almost falling as he jumped while Rippin' Moses slipped on the mat in front of the 520m boxes yet still clocked 29.88 in his trial.
"They are both fit and well but the awkward boxes are obviously a concern,'' Williams said.
Rippin' Moses has drawn what appears to be the weakest heat while Iconic Jet is up against the ideally positioned Trio Of Clowns (box eight) and the promising Talk About It (box three).
Shaula, trained in Queensland by Tom Tzouvelis, will be striving to maintain her flawless WP record when she exits box six in heat three of the Futurity.
Shaula led throughout to win the Million Dollar Chase Maiden Final at WP in race record time of 29.33 on October 18 and has won two of her past three starts over 520m at Albion Park.
"I think she is going as well as when she won the big maiden at Wenty and she simply had no luck when fourth at her most recent start, at Albion Park on December 27,'' Tzouvelis said.
"Shaula was up there at the first turn and got decked.
"While she came out running and led all the way to win at WP in October she doesn't have to lead to win on Saturday.
"If anything Shaula has got a bit stronger with maturity so if she can find a reasonably prominent spot in the early and middle stages she is in this race with a good chance.''
There is speed galore among the bitches drawn inside Shaula and the best positioned runner looks to be the Jodie Lord-trained Peloponnese, superbly placed in box one.
