Nature's Gent joins feature at Hatrick

Missing out on a final field position for Sunday's $88,000 Auckland Cup means the current NZ Cup title holder Nature's Gent will contest the open class 520m event at Hatrick this evening (Race 10).

The Angela Turnwald-prepared greyhound was caught in jostling when heading into the Manukau first turn in his Auckland Cup heat.

He recovered to run third which was sufficient for him to be named as the second reserve for the final.

Slow starts has affected his recent winning claims however Nature's Gent should prove too strong for his rivals in this evening's event providing he receives a reasonably clear early racing passage.

Bigtime Caleb won last Friday's edition of this race for Lisa Cole.

He holds repeat claims here, while his kennelmate Bigtime Vanessa would have benefited from recent racing following a spell.

The Cole-prepared pair of Bigtime Levi and Spare Some Time also return from luckless Manukau heat assignments and both can feature at the business end here.

The open class 305m sprint (Race 4) also features sprinters who are returning here after their misses in the $28,000 Railway Sprint heats in Auckland.

Bigtime Jane for Cole, Opawa Crystal from the Marcie Flipp kennels along with the Turnwald trained Mila Mila will find this evening's dash a slightly easier task.

The Cole-mentored Bigtime Sugar and Who's John Gault are both capable of featuring in this dash.

Two regular Hatrick Friday evening 520m attendees will contest the Auckland Cup final on Sunday (Race 10).

Bigtime Paddy is a previous Group 1 winner on the Manukau track for Cole and his stylish 30.25s heat win over 527m says in he's the right condition to make his presence felt in what is a very competitive looking field.

It was a strong heat effort by him as he boldly led home the recent Hatrick dual Group 1 520m winner Allen Ablett, who will be a race rival on Sunday. Bigtime Paddy has drawn okay in trap three.

Drawing even better in the one trap is the Matt Roberts-trained Quistis Bale.

She was bold when delivering her three length heat second to the strong greyhound Shallay Pallay. She must place herself handy to the early pace.

Roberts has also qualified his Hatrick Group 2 305m winner Hypocritical for the Railway Sprint final (Race 9) at Group 1 level.

He must jump smartly from the seven trap.