3 minute read

The powerful Chris Waller stable appears certain to play a major role in the fourth race at Canterbury today with progressive gallopers Heart Testa and Rastro both stepping out for their second career starts.

Heart Testa proved too good on debut at Newcastle holding off a late charge from the Peter Snowden trained Complicate to score by a head over 1200m. That form - line has since been highlighted with Complicate bolting in at Randwick - Kensington on Monday. The inform Jason Collett sticks aboard and expect him to sit up on the speed and prove very hard to beat.

Rastro also proved quite impressive on debut when beaten narrowly at Randwick - Kensington after making up a lot of ground from the back behind the Darley trained Chiaramonte. He will have taken some valuable experience out of that performance and with Bowman in the saddle he shapes as a major danger from the gun draw.

Although money hasn't always given a good indication of which Waller runner to stick with, Heart Testa has received a stack of early support in pre-post markets and appears to have the most upside of the two.

With early two-year-old form around the likes of Pierro, Hoss Amor and Amorino, the Paul Perry trained Hidden Wonder remains the query runner in the field after he saluted as the $1.18 favourite when resuming at Newcastle last start.

Taking on a fairly mediocre field compared to the one he faces here, you would have preferred him to see him salute by a more decisive margin however he did appear unsuited over the shorter 900m journey and with further improvement expected racing second up he cannot be dismissed.

With a number of key scratchings in the race, the Darley trained Lyric must come into consideration after he worked home strongly against the bias to finish second at Hawkesbury last start.

Hidden Warrior and Heart Testa should ensure a solid tempo in the race which should allow Lyric to settle back in the field and work home strongly.

Good luck and happy punting.