Heartland to fire at Kenilworth

Heartland looked very good when heavily backed on debut, destroying his opposition by with a 9.75-length defeat of Millbrook in August.

A break followed and he next came out in October in the Grade 3 Cape Classic over 1400m. Snaith said prior to that race he did not think the full brother to Jackson was ready and he managed to run third, 3.80 lengths adrift of the impressive Act Of War.

Second on that occasion was highly thought of Mljet so what looks on paper to be a modest third place is actually substantially better than that.

It was also his first run around the Kenilworth turn so improvement will be expected of Heartland. Stable jockey Richard Fourie is back and he will be hungry for winners after a much-delayed start to his season.

In The Cruise proved very disappointing in his last two starts but can be expected to bounce back from those disappointments and is well drawn in stall No 3. Trainer Joey Ramsden and jockey Sean Cormack have a decent strike rate when they team up.

Mister Matchett does not appear to have the scope of the younger brigade but took his gelding and stable change well enough for him to run out a very easy winner last time. The step up in trip will not be a problem for Mister Matchett as he won over this distance at Durbanville in March.

In Tribute, Richard Strauss and recent maiden winners Blackmore and Kilrain are all capable of fighting out the minor places.