Greyhound Racing: It's the thrill of the chase at Hatrick

Intense chasing action is assured during this evening's Hatrick meeting with two sets of feature race heats, involving the nation's leading greyhounds who are seeking final field places for next Friday's deciders.

Three 520m heats (Races 4-6) will be held for the $27,465 Hatrick Classic at Group 1 level.

The straight out Kiwi bred speed merchants will contest six heats (Races 7-12) for their $8,400 NZRS Sprint series over the 305m dash.

It is a clash between the recent Group races winners in the first heat.

The Craig Roberts-prepared Allen Ablett strongly won the Spion Rose Cup here in December, which he then backed up with his second placing in the recent Waikato Classic.

It was Me Jane for Lisa Cole who won that Cambridge 457m event.

This pair certainly won't be presented with easy qualifying claims as the Dave and Jean Fahey trained pair of Shreddin' and Vikings can be expected to deliver competitive efforts here.

The second heat features the current NZ Cup title holder Nature's Gent from the Angela Turnwald kennels.

He has drawn to advance into the final from the two trap.

Likely to keep him up to the mark is Dirk Bale as this Roberts-trained chaser will relish hopping away from the ace trap here.

Others to consider in this heat includes the ever consistent Karen Walsh-conditioned Ridin' Shotgun, while Bigtime Levi is likely to be sighted charging home late for Lisa Cole.

The Fahey's are lining up He's All Power and Cactus Jack in this heat.

It's a rather even looking final heat where the Walsh-prepared Thrilling Raider has secured the draw advantage via the one trap for it.

Junk Mail for the Fahey's, along with Ride Ain't Over for Roberts, plus the Cole trained pair of Bigtime Paddy and No Time Toulouse all hold qualifying claims.

Adding to the puzzle this heat presents is the nicely drawn in-form Quistis Bale for Matt Roberts.

The following sprinters appear to be the leading prospects in their NZRS Sprint 305m sprint heats: Allegro Gun (heat 1), Bigtime Pink (heat 2), Highland Laddie (heat 3), Bigtime Ellie (race 4), Bigtime Sugar (heat 5) and Bigtime Shaker (heat 6).