The cream of the Friday night Hatrick crop at Whanganui are still missing in action

The cream may be missing, but the Friday night action at Hatrick Raceway will still be strong.

The cream of the Friday evening Hatrick greyhounds are still absent owing to their Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup meeting commitments.

However, a number of those chasers exited from the high-profile races after the semifinal rounds at the Addington Raceway on Wednesday.

Lisa Cole advanced just one chaser for next Thursday's $100,000 NZ Cup final at Group 1 level when Jilliby Lista finished second in her 520m semi.

Big Time Harley now occupies the second possie on the reserves bench after his semi third.

It was brighter news for the resilient sprinter Trojan Hoarse who will return to contest the Group 1, $30,000 The Fitz Sports Bars Galaxy Sprint final.

He claimed his 54th career win when delivering his sharp 16.85s 295m semi win. His clock was the quickest from the four semis contested.

Cole will also return with Bronski Beat to contest the $30,000 Suck It Up NZ Stayers Cup over the extreme 732m journey also at Group 1. Joining him will be the Angela Turnwald prepared Emgrand Rose.

Bigtime Rod returned to open class racing last Friday to win his 520m assignment in 30.37s. He followed that up with his third in Tuesday's 520m event.

Another competitive effort is expected from this winner of 34 races in this evening's race 9 520m event.

Other Cole-trained contenders here include Simply Smooth, Nova Ollie and Big Time Lizzy.

Miss Potential returns to Hatrick from Addington after enduring a luckless NZ Cup heat outing for her conditioners Gary and Sandra Fredrickson.

She is likely to relish finally drawing close to the rail (two) after a series of unsuitable wide draws. A bold effort is expected from this recent Wanganui Cup third place getter.

It's looming as a potential battle between the litter siblings in the race 10 645m staying event, although the draw is a likely factor in the outcome.

Big Time Baby was an effortless 30.20s Tuesday 520m winner, which backed up her recent pair of bold 645m wins here.

She has been allocated the one trap and that is the concern for her and her trap-two drawn brother Big Time Mac as she tends to race out wide. Mac was solid when he secured his 38.39s Tuesday win when racing over 645m for the first time.

Another sound-looking Cole-trained contender is the trap-seven drawn Big Time Odette who has also won both of her previous 645m races.