Laura Keeping (pictured) recorded her fastest Wentworth Park time in her Ladbrokes National Futurity heat win but she has drawn even better in Saturday night's final.
In last week's third heat, Laura Keeping showed remarkable track sense from box eight by running in a straight line from the boxes but crossing to the rails when there was space on the rails at the first turn.
Laura Keeping will exit box three on Saturday and her trainer, 21-year-old Jay Opateia, is delighted with her draw.
"Considering she is only 22 months old, Laura Keeping showed great maturity the way she handled herself in her heat,'' Opateia said.
"Biggest race I have won in my three years as a trainer was the group two Richmond Derby with Go Bears so if Laura Keeping can bounce cleanly from the boxes she could be my first group one winner.''
Probably even more excited at being in the Futurity is Greg Sutherland, trainer of the outsider Screaming Violet.
Sutherland said: "I don't care if we run last, I'm just over the moon to have a finalist in a group one race.
"I returned to training eight years ago and this race with Screaming Violet is the biggest I've been in.
"Screaming Violet clocked the fastest first split in last week's heats and she has pinged the lids at her past three starts.
"So if she does that again on Saturday she should be the pacemaker and if that happens who knows?
"Screaming Violet always gets wide on the back straight at Wenty but in her heat she got even further off the fence so she cost herself a fair bit of ground.''
Screaming Violet
Jungle Johnny's trainer Mark Gatt concedes his dog's box seven draw in Saturday's group one Ladbrokes National Derby final is "not good" but still believes his fastest heat winner has a great chance.
"While Jungle Johnny does not have brilliant early speed he is as strong as a bull and there is not a great deal of early pace among the Derby finalists,'' Gatt said.
"Mark To Market, Paw Oswald and Zipping Kristoff seems to be the speed dogs so if Jungle Johnny can drive forward at the first turn he could be fourth, or maybe even third, on the back straight.
"If he gets to there he will be hard to hold off.''
Zipping Kristoff has the prized box one draw and his trainer Jason Magri said: "He is didn't come out as good as he can in his heat when he had box eight and Jungle Johnny ran him down.
"If Zipping Kristoff gets the start right he has a good chance of leading because he is so well boxed, although apart from Jungle Johnny, Paw Oswald's heat win was massive.''
Paw Oswald was badly checked at the first turn before defeating the fast finishing Zig Zag Man in his heat and his trainer Mark Delbridge said: "He certainly got a decent whack in the early stages and when he was running second down the back straight I was hoping he would hang on and qualify for the final.
"I was very impressed when he was able to win and while he only clocked 29.82 last week, he has run 29.42 at WP and there is no reason why he can't do that again.
"My only concern is that he has been jumping well from even-numbered boxes, and he will be placed in earlier on Saturday because he has box three.''
Syd Swain, trainer of Zig Zag Man, believes the scratching of Trio Of Clowns has boosted his dog's chance.
"I've never seen a better run than Zig Zag Man's performance to be runner-up behind Paw Oswald in the heats but when Trio Of Clowns drew four in the final and my dog drew five, I was disappointed,'' Swain said.
"Trio Of Clowns steps to the right but with Mark To Market, the first reserve, likely to go into box four, that will help Zig Zag Man, who has box five.
"Mark To Market begins fast and rails keenly so he could give my bloke a great run to the first corner.''
