Victoria will unleash two of its most exciting young straight-track prospects on the national stage at Healesville today, with racecaller James Van de Maat tipping Smart As You to make the most of the prized inside draw in the Group 3 National Straight Track Championship Final (350m)

Smart As You and Blink And Miss will fly the flag for the Big V, remarkably heading into the National Final with just 12 and 10 career starts respectively

Despite their relative inexperience, both have already shown they are capable of matching it with the country’s best up the straight.

For Van de Maat, the box draw has tipped the scales firmly in favour of box one runner Smart As You.

“I think Smart As You is a massive winner from the inside draw,” Van de Maat said.

“He is as hard a railer as we’ve seen and, for a young dog with the record he has up the straight and the times he is capable of running, I think he’s going to be really hard to beat from box one.”

Van de Maat believes the make-up of the field could further favour the Victorian, with several runners drawn immediately to his outside likely to give him room to operate.

“I think Big Al’s will use a bit of the track, while Terrell Banner will stay up off the rail and so will Brailey Banner,” he said.

“That’s going to make it hard for Blink And Miss to get anywhere near the inside of Smart As You through the first couple of hundred metres.

“Based on that, I think this young straight-tracking star is clearly the dog to beat.”

Van de Maat has NSW representative Tyrell Banner second in his selections after an eye-catching exhibition trial at Healesville.

“He produced an 18.90 exhibition trial up the straight, which was as quick as I’ve seen one go at its first look,” he said.

“He’s a huge chance. If he gets a clean run from box four, expect the Sydneysider to go well.”

Van de Maat hasn’t discounted Victoria’s second representative Blink And Miss, placing him third and predicting a bright future for the lightly raced youngster.

“He could be a Phoenix dog come December,” Van de Maat said.

Secret Story rounds out his top four from box eight.

“It’s going to be a cracking race, but Smart As You, the local, can claim the big one.”