Peter Lagogiane trained Blitzing Lass to win the 2017 Magic Maiden but he rates Unleash Georgia, his finalist in next Saturday night's Group 3 at Wentworth Park, as far superior.
Blitzing Lass was third early but took the lead on the first turn and covered the 520m in 30.09, posting second and third splits of 14.04 and 18.18.
No wonder Lagogiane has declared Unleash Georgia as better because, when she led all the way to win her Magic Maiden heat on Thursday night, she reeled off middle splits of 13.64 and 17.73 after clocking a flying 5.37 initial section.
And she put the 520m behind her in 29.62, a mind boggling .38sec faster than second quickest heat winner Taw Major, who led all the way in 30.00.
Unleash Georgia won her heat by a dozen lengths and she looks to hold such a mortgage on the $25,000 to the winner final that Syd Swain, whose dog Makati Lad won his heat in 30.05, exclaimed: "It's great that Peter Lagogiane's bitch has drawn box three in the final because my greyhound drew four.
"She should go straight to the front and give Makati Lad a good cart across to the rails which will allow him to run second!"
Peter Lagogiane said: "Unleash Georgia is by my 2019 Gosford Cup and Launching Pad winner Beast Unleashed from Pay Call, who won the 2021 Ladies Bracelet at WP in equal race record time of 29.44.
"So she is well bred and after breaking in well Unleash Georgia trialled 22.30 over 400m at Maitland, producing a flying first split of 5.22.
"But she had a couple of setbacks and following third placings in two races at Maitland and Gosford she resumed on Thursday night to win her Magic Maiden heat at her first start for three months.''
Unleash Georgia
Box one in Saturday's Magic Maiden has gone to Gloria Dayton, who was a luckless second in her heat after being sent out as a $61 chance on debut.
Owned and trained by her breeder Stuart Hazlett, Gloria Dayton had box six in her heat and after colliding at the start, she took an early lead before finishing second, beaten just over five lengths by Zipping Bueller in 30.12.
"Gloria Dayton is a tiny 22.5kg bitch and was having only her second 520m test last Thursday in the heats,'' Hazlett said.
"She had clocked 30.50 in a previous trial at Wentworth Park but is improving and is ideally drawn in the final.
"Who knows, if the two dog Taw Galaxy and the hotpot Unleashed Georgia in box three bump at the start, anything can happen.
"I bred Gloria Dayton from a bitch called Oil And Water, who was a gift to me from her former owner Chris Carl.
"Oil And Water won a dozen races for Chris when trained by Sam Simonetta, but her only litter was the Fernando Bale whelping which produced Gloria Dayton.
"Because Oil And Water was a terrible monther who didn't want to look after her puppies, she had only the one litter and has since been re-homed as a pet.''
Box draw for the Magic Maiden, where Victorian Anything Less' race record of 29.62 was set in 2014, is 1 Gloira Dayton 2 Taw Galaxy 3 Unleash Georgia 4 Makati Lad 5 Shaq Keeping 6 Honey Badger 7 Taw Major 8 Zipping Bueller with reserves 9 Lagoon Joey and 10 Vivid Memory.
Rebecca Edenborough will have her first Group One contestant when fastest heat winner I'm Sally tackles Saturday night's $75,000 to the winner Farrell's Association Cup over 720m at Wentworth Park.
But the Cowra trainer's husband, fellow trainer Rod McDonald, believes the date of the race could be an auspicious omen for the couple.
"Next Saturday will be 16 years to the day since I trained my first group one winner, Dana Beatrice, who took out that year's Golden Easter Egg final,'' McDonald said.
