Melbourne AFL fans will get a double dip this weekend.

The Demons are warm favourites to beat Carlton at the MCG on Friday night and progress to the preliminary finals of a fascinating AFL season.

Just 24 hours later, three-year-old pacer Petracca – named after gun Melbourne midfielder Christian Petracca – will dominate betting from a perfect draw (gate one) in the $150,000 Group 1 Vicbred final for three-year-old colts and geldings at Melton.

Petracca is raced by leviathan owner and passionate Melbourne supporter Danny Zavitsanos, and has already shown his star power with 11 starts netting eight wins, a third and $109,778 in earnings.

The colt was back to his sparkling best winning a semi-final in second gear by 19.7m at Melton last Saturday night.

“I named him a few days after Melbourne broke its premiership in 2021,” Zavitsanos said.

“I've got another called Gawn (named after Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn) and Oliver Dan. He's named after Clayton Oliver, but they wouldn't let me have just Oliver, so I settled on Oliver Dan.”

Stewart set a new Victorian record for most winners by a trainer at a single meeting when she claimed nine of the Vicbred Super Series semi-finals at Melton last Saturday night and qualified 30 horses (including emergencies) for this weekend’s blockbuster Group 1 card.

The Cardigan stable has four favourites this Saturday night, with Petracca $1.30, Stormryder ($1.45, two-year-old colts and geldings), Draw A Dream ($1.65, two-year-old fillies) and Amore Vita ($1.35, four-year-old mares) all expected to prevail in their respective features.

Amore Vita is out to create her own little piece of history when she looks to become just the second pacing filly/mare to win Vicbred titles at two, three and four.

The other also hailed from the Stewart barn, with Maajida completing the feat back in 2021.

A total of $1.5million in prizemoney goes up for grabs across the 12 races on Saturday night, with the wall-to-wall TrotsVision coverage headed up by Ryan Phelan, Kirsten Graham, Brittany Graham and caller Dan Mielicki.

TUNE IN at MELTON on Saturday 

First Race: 5.30pm Last Race: 11pm
Racecaller: Dan Mielicki with Ryan Phelan, Kirsten Graham and Brittany Graham on TrotsVision.
TrotsVision: WATCH LIVE
SEN Track: LISTEN LIVE 
RSN 927: LISTEN LIVE

Winner of the Week

NEVER ENDING, by Sweet Lou out of Endless Journey, at Gloucester Park on September 8.
 Breed your next winner with Woodlands Stud, supporter of Trots Centre
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The good oil from the Vic trials circuit

BLACKBOOKER: Melton, R11 N13, Susan Is Her Name
At Melton on August 7, SUSAN IS HER NAME delivered a brilliant performance to win her trial by nearly 50 metres! She led throughout, ran along at a genuine tempo and motored away over the concluding stages. REPORT & REPLAY