The final is the feature event on Maitland Greyhound Club’s free family fun day, which runs from 3pm to 7pm, with a chair-o-plane ride, jumping castle, face painting and Zooper Dooper ice blocks for the kids.

Santa and Mrs Claus will arrive about 6pm, just after the running of The Mutual Christmas Cup, with 100 gifts bags to give away.

Who Ha, a son of Jarvis Bale and Full On Shelby, set the time standard in the second of four heats over 450 metres last Thursday with a best-of-day 25.19 seconds.

It was Who Ha’s fourth win from 14 starts - all at Maitland - for Lee with the black dog jumping well from box one and leading to beat the Bev Wood-trained Scarface (25.46s) by three and three quarter lengths.

Most of Who Ha’s successes have come from boxes one to four and an inside draw on Thursday would certainly put him right in the mix for the $2300 first prize - a nice early Christmas present for one lucky trainer.

Zippet Zipper won the first heat for Abermain trainer Nancy Mcintosh in 25.37s, beating Digger Muldoon (25.40s) from the kennels of Gloucester trainer Julie Laurantas by half a length.

Bella’s Emgrand won the third heat for East Longwood trainer Luke Azzopardi in 25.41s, beating the Deb Roach-trained Shimmer Chevy (25.68s) by three and three quarter lengths.

Bella’s Emgrand, a daughter of Fabregas and Little Charlie, was most impressive at her first Maitland start and will certainly take improvement into the final.

Adios Amigos made it back-to-back wins at Maitland when he won the fourth heat in 25.23s for East Gresford trainer Charmaine Field.

The son of El Grand Senor and Hail Queenie, pinged the lids from box five and led throughout to beat the Wayne Attwill-trained Lone Eagles (25.43s) by two and three quarter lengths.

Newcastle GBOTA Branch members will be trackside on Thursday afternoon to cheer on the finalists in their annual Christmas Sprint over 400m.

Dashing Pace was the fastest of the three heat winners, clocking 22.34s in the third heat for Kearsley trainer Anthony Callaghan. He beat the Allan Ivers-trained Sketchy Cosmic (22.60s) by three and three quarter lengths with Les Hudson’s Big Reg Opal (22.70s) third.

Cougar Stealth won the first heat in 22.45s for Swan Bay trainer Allan Ivers, beating Bruce Mcintosh’s Kash Kade (22.50s) and Jeanette Roche’s Petey Pete (22.78s).

Signature Bond won the second heat in 22.56s for Sweetmans Creek trainer Lena Sweetman, beating Sisi Sienna (22.82s) for Allan Ivers and Pixi Limeburner (22.82s) for Wendy Ison.

One lucky trainer from each of the 10 races at Maitland this Thursday will receive an early Christmas present - a Lions Club Christmas cake and a bottle of McGuigans wines.

Good luck to all runners on Thursday and Merry Christmas.