Jack Strutt believes that Stagger Out Elly will have her word cut out for her in the third heat for the Bidgee Cup

Wagga Greyhound Club will host three heats on Friday night for the group three $25,000 Bidgee Cup that is being held November 10 over 525m.

A strong performer over 400m, Elly will make the step up in distance for the first time on Friday night.

The three-year-old bitch has placed in seven of her last nine runs and Strutt says that she has been in good recent form.

"Yeah her last few runs have been good and hopefully she keeps it up," Strutt said.

"She's had a few meetings at Wagga which has really helped her and she's been hitting the line a bit better too.

"We've just got to hope she can find the front tomorrow as that's where she's at her best.

"She's doesn't like going around dogs and we've just got to hope for a bit of luck behind her too."

Aiding Elly's quest is the fact that she will jump out of box one, which Strutt believes should favour her in the early going.

"She likes the wings so the one or eight and that's usually where she does her best from," he said.

"She's got the speed to lead and I think she should be leading if she comes out well.

"But she's better suited over shorter trips and she can't run a real strong 500 so she definitely has to lead."

Elly will go up against strong local pair Bianca's Boy (trained by Raymond Sims) and Not Wanted (Shannon Ellis) in the third heat and Strutt believed that those two deserved to head into the preliminary as the favourites.

"Definitely Bianca's Boy is the one to beat," he said.

"It's flying at the moment and I think it's probably going to be the next big thing to come out of Wagga.

"I think it's won all but one of her races so far and they've all been over 500 at Wagga, it's definitely a real hot pup coming through.

"Then Shannon's dog out in the eight, I think it's won four of it's last five and had a win in town a couple of starts back."

MORE SPORTS NEWS:

The top two from each of the three heats will earn their spot in the feature final next Friday while the two quickest third-placed qualifiers will also be granted a spot in the field.

Given Elly's inexperience over the longer distance, Strutt believed that a top two finish would be required if she was to earn her spot in the final.

"You have definitely got to run top two I think," he said.

"The other heats the third placed dogs will be getting through on times and I think her best chance is to run a top two.

"I think if she's running third her time won't probably qualify her but to be beating both of those is probably a pretty big ask."

Elly is the full sister of Stagger Out Lee, who has been sidelined since March after tearing her back muscle at Wentworth Park.

Strutt said that Lee had been making some solid ground in her return from the injury, however a return to the track had been delayed due to a setback.

"She come back into work a couple of months back," he said.

"We were setting her up for the Topgun which is an invitational group one in a couple of weeks, but she's just had a setback so I had to pull her nomination from that.

"We got her cleared at Shepparton a few weeks ago to start racing, but we've just had a setback now.

"We are sort of racing the clock a bit to get her right for the Bold Trease as we wanted to have another crack at that."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: