While some of the best sprinters in the land will take centre stage at Wentworth Park on Saturday night for the Heats of the Group 1 Ladbrokes Paws Of Thunder, Friday night’s 10-race card is laden with talent and some of the best up and coming greyhounds in the country.
On January 23 the final of the Paws Of Thunder will be held at headquarters, but another two groups 1 finals will be decided on the night, the Ladbrokes National Derby and the Ladbrokes National Futurity.
Heats of both events will be held on Friday night at Wentworth Park, with seven Heats of the ‘boys’ event and three Heats for the ‘girls’ drawn on Tuesday.
The opening Heat of the Futurity sees two greyhounds who have been spoken about as legitimate chances to win the final, Luke Adams’ Zipping Niseko and David Smith’s Ice Cream Story.
Ice Cream Story, a winner of her past two at Wentworth Park in smart times of 29.76s and 29.84s, will jump from the eight box while Zipping Niseko who won at Wenty in 29.80s two runs back, will exit box three.
Also in the field are Victorian pair Carry On Star and Weblec Pearl, along with JODIE Lord’s smart youngster Picture Frame.
Smith and Adams also have a strong hand in the second Heat with Super Estrella (box 4) a smart 29.76s last start winner on Saturday at Wentworth Park, and Zipping Sapporo (box 3), a winner of five of her seven starts, respectively. Also in the event is the promising Red Hot Mouse (box 6) and the consistent Lucky Eleven (box 7).
Heat three sees one of the series’ favourites On The Rocks in box three, but she won’t have it all her own way with Smith’s Me Me Mia in box 1, Lord’s Sarita in box 2, and John Finn’s Zipping Pearson in box 6.
The Derby Heats are loaded with promising greyhounds with Victorians Eagles Nest Egg (box 1) – a 29.10s winner at Sandown in December – Jason Thompson’s Memphis Keeping (box 7) – formerly trained by Charmaine Roberts in Dubbo – and Jeff Britton’s smart youngster Do It (box 8) who didn’t have a lot of luck on debut at Wenty last Saturday.
The pick of Heat two looks to be impressive last start Wentworth Park winner Zipping Kyrgios (box 3), while in Heat three Victorian trainer Matt Clark, who won the Vic Peters Classic with Playlist in 2020, comes looking for another Group 1 with Kuro Kismet (box 5).
Heat four sees Gosford Gold Cup placegetter Casual Glance (Pictured) drawn in box 4, clashing with Victorian Jepara (box 3) and the highly promising Serious Object in box 6.
Smith has a Derby chance in Five Second Rule (box 7) in Heat five meeting Ritza Tommy (box 2) and Cash View (box 1).
Adams also has a Derby hope in Heat six with Zipping Moose drawn in the one box and he will have competition from the likes of Romantic Storm (box 3) a 29.87s winner two runs back, Fantastic Victor (box 7) a winner of four of six Wentworth Park runs, and smart Victorian Tyler Durden (box 4).
In the final Heat, there are a number of chances including Preston Lee (box 1), Weblec Jet (box 3) who trailed at Wenty in 29.95s last week, and the speedy Deep Cover (box 7) a winner of two of his three starts, both at headquarters.
