It is all systems go on Saturday, with the start of this year’s Kent St Leger sponsored by Carlsberg.

This event carries a prize of £2,500 for the winner and is run over our marathon distance of 714m – two circuits of the track.

We start with the six heats which will see 36 of the best dogs over this distance hoping to get in the first three to go through to next weekend’s semi-finals.

Last weekend the card featured two St Leger trial races for greyhounds hoping to gain selection into the event.

These were won by Mays Alonso, trained by Seamus Cahill at Hove and Millwards Amy, trained by Paul Young at Romford.

These two trainers are among the best in the country and they have designs on putting forward some decent entrants for this prestigious race.

I spoke to the connections of these dogs and understand both will be taking their chances if accepted, which is great news.

Mays Alonso only lost his puppy status last month but his 17-career races to date have seen him compete at seven different tracks in Ireland and here with wins over distances up to 750m. This trip will suit him.

He ran the Crayford track well, winning his trial race by a length from two other potential entrants in Airforce Rebel and Millwards Mink.

They also had Boltwelldigger behind them – a greyhound that has appeared here in the Ladbrokes Golden Jacket.

Millwards Amy also had a narrow margin of victory, winning by just a short head from Tullig Lewis and Fatice Cream. This was only the dog’s third competitive race and this trip is well within her scope, given that she has run over 820m at Romford.

She gives owner Mitch Millward and partners a great chance of winning with either Amy or Mink.

While Crayford will have some home runners, only two featured in these trial races – Besomi Hen and Run On Flash. Both finished last at big prices.

It looks like it may be a tall order for one of our dogs to make it a home win, given the quality of the expected visiting dogs but our best will go to traps.

It will be an excellent night’s racing this Saturday, so why not come along?