Woods is up for the challenge

THE final two heats of the Youngbloods Challenge series will be held in Launceston tomorrow night and with only 13 points separating the top five drivers the final result could go right down to the wire.

The winner is determined on a point score basis with 16 points allocated for first, 12 for second, nine for third and seven for fourth and reducing by one through to last (10th).

Brady Woods notched a win in each of the first two rounds, giving him an eight-point lead into the final round.

One of Woods’s heat wins was aboard the Tony Petersentrained Usain Jolt and Woods has drawn that horse in the first round (heat 5) tomorrow night.

Usain Jolt has drawn gate eight on the outside of the front row, but that should not present too great an obstacle for the talented four-year-old.

Should Woods win he would take an almost unbeatable lead into the final heat.

Sam Gangell has accrued 33 points and looks a serious contender for the title, while Hannah VanDongen is only one point adrift and also can take the title.

Gangell has drawn Streetside Classic (9) in the first heat tonight and while he has a second-row draw he should land in a prominent spot in the oneout line from where he is capable of at least filling a place.

In the final heat (race 4) she partners Zhukov Leis from the Todd Rattray stable and while he has drawn awkwardly in gate seven near the outside of the front row the gelding is still likely to still start as one of the favourites.

Braden Howlett, who led the series after the first two rounds, had no luck with the random draw for horses in the second round of heats in Hobart last Sunday, but he fares better tonight.

Howlett is aboard Really Frank (5) in the first heat and is a genuine each-way chance. In the last heat he teams with the Kate McLeod-trained Rattlenhum who has enough gate speed to find the front.

Dylan Ford had only three points after the first two heats but he rocketed up the points table with a win and a third in Hobart to be within striking distance on 28 points going into the final round of heats.

Ford will partner Bettor Pay Me in heat five but faces a tough task from the outside of the second-row draw (11), but he could win aboard Little Bit of Big in the final heat from gate six. The Youngbloods series is open to all drivers aged 23 or under at the start of the racing season (September 1).