Nangar Jim gave the Dungog trainer his first group race victory last month in the Maitland Cup and he qualified for Gosford's $40,000-to-the-winner 515m equivalent with second in his heat last week.

On debut at Gosford and slowly away from box five, Nangar Jim was unable to catch Branxton trainer Susan Smith's My Hepburn, which led from the one and won by 3.5 lengths in 29.22 seconds.

Nangar Jim ($8 TAB) faces another tough task from four in the final, while My Hepburn ($5.50) will start from the outside. McFadyen said Nangar Jim had trialed better at the track in the lead-up and could improve.

"He trialed and his first section was 4.30 I think, which leads 99 out of 100 races there, and he ran 29.18, so if he nails the start, he's in it up to his eyeballs," McFadyen said. "But he has a tendency sometimes to need a stride to get going."

Zipping Novak was a $2.60 favourite after clocking a fastest heat win of 29.03 and drawing one.

"He's a super dog and he has a super draw," McFadyen said. "The chink in his armour is he can be steady away and that's what we are all relying on.

"I can't remember a race with so much speed in it. The one led last week and there's speed from two to eight as well. They can all run.

"My Hepburn ran a 4.29 first section last week, and that's nearly unheard of. But in the eight, she's in a bit of trouble out there. It's going to be really hard to get across when there's six dogs inside you that can run that too."