Gets Late Early and Paw Oswald were finalists in the 2024 Ladbrokes Paul Wheeler, and both are given a great chance of reaching the 2025 final by winning their heats at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
Gets Late Early has box eight in heat four of the Group One event, while Paw Oswald will exit box four in heat six.
Last year Gets Late Early wore the pink rug when she was runner-up to Blue Kermaro, beaten just under two lengths in a flying 29.40.
Paw Oswald drew box one but bungled the start completely and missed a place, but just under a month later defeated Jungle Johnny in another Group One Wentworth Park classic, the National Derby.
Trainer Minnie Finn has sharpened up Gets Late Early by taking her away from Wentworth Park, qualifying for the Brother Fox final at Dubbo with her on November 22, before winning three successive 401m races at Richmond within three weeks.
Gets Late Early has had five wins and 13 placings from 21 appearances out of box eight and Minnie Finn said: "She is going as well as ever, as good as she was when she ran second in last year's Paul Wheeler final.''
Winning the Paul Wheeler would be extra special for Victorian trainer Mark Delbridge as his prinicpal client is the late Paul Wheeler's son Brendan, owner of Paw Oswald.
Paw Oswald is certainly racing as well, if not better, than when he reached the 2024 final before going on to win the National Derby at Wentworth Park.
The dog has had five wins and a second from his past six starts in top-class company at Sandown and The Meadows and Delbridge said: "I have four runners in the Paul Wheeler heats but Paw Oswald, who has been a marvellous dog, is my top prospect.''
Paw Oswald only turned three last month but has won 27 of 65 starts for over $273,0000 and is nicely drawn on Saturday night.
Although he has box four, he has a vacant box on his outside and Speedy Pie, the Brother Fox winner in box four, goes fast early and rails well so should give the Victorian a good "cart" to the first bend.
Gets Late Early's toughest rival looks to be Queensland's Teresita, who led all the way at Wentworth Park in October, clocking a slick 29.61 and posting smart early splits of 5.42 and 13.70.
She has won her past two starts in Brisbane and trainer Tom Tzouvelis said: "The key to Teresita is whether she can be the pacemaker.
"She really needs to lead to win because while she did come from behind to win over 520m at Parklands two starts back, she is always a much better chance if she can be in front on the first corner.''
Mark Delbridge is disappointed Paw Zuri has box five in heat three of the Paul Wheeler, pointing out: "She is a good bitch because in the past month she has finished third in the Sandown Laurels final and fourth in the Melbourne Cup final.
Delbridge also has Croydon in box two in heat one and Paw Ollie in box six in heat five and said Croydon, who has won four of his past five races, is well positioned near the rails.
Punters looking for value on Saturday night should settle on Zipping Botham in the fifth grade 520m The Lids Fly on Ladbrokes Live Channels Stakes.
The much-improved Courtney Barnes-trained dog had won three consecutive races at Wentworth Park and Nowra before finishing a luckless fifth at Wentworth Park last Saturday night.
In that race, Zipping Botham drew box eight and missed the jump completely and found trouble in transit, but from a more suitable box three draw on Saturday should notch his fifth win from his past seven appearances.
