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Winter Palace is the main beneficiary of the anticipated favourite being scratched in the Carlton Draught 150 Years Maiden Plate at Bendigo.

Barkly Boy was expected to take beating in the third race at Bendigo on Thursday however with his removal, the race opens up.

Ratings suggest the main beneficiary of his absence is the Rod Symons-trained Winter Palace.

Winter Palace resumed at this track 22 days ago and the effort he produced fresh over 1400m was full of merit.

Settled worse than midfield, Winter Palace was held up for a run in the straight but once clear showed good acceleration and hit the line hard.

While unable to reel in the winner, the run was most encouraging.

Second up with pacifiers equipped, Winter Palace can go one better on Thursday.

The son of Rakti is one of the more experienced runners in the field however not experience enough to suggest he is a non winner stuck in maiden company.

Winter Palace possesses a master Timeform rating of 78, a figure he was four pounds shy of when resuming.

It suggests there is plenty of room for improvement second run from a spell.

Leading jockey Glen Boss jumps aboard and expect the pair to settle back before overpowering their rivals late.

Another who was working into calculations nicely at her previous outing was the Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained Northern Saint.

The daughter of Northern Meteor made her debut at Kilmore late last month where she settled well back in the field before running into third.

She will have no doubt taken valuable race experience and fitness from the run and gave every indication stepping up to 1400m would be ideal.

Devil’s Tale has been solid in each of his runs and should also appreciate a distance rise.

Samerannie was another closing late on debut who might be worth keeping safe.