The Sun Met 5/1 third favourite with Betting World, Last Winter, will gallop at Kenilworth today (Thursday) before the first race.

His big race rider Piere Strydom will have flown in for the occasion and the gallop is to be screened live on Tellytrack.

Last Winter has a tough task on paper under the weight for age conditions, being merit rated only 107, 16 points below the highest rated contestant Legal Eagle.

However, he is still relatively unexposed, having run only five times for four wins and a narrow defeat in the Grade 2 Forus Premier Trophy.

The big and classy four=year-old Western Winter colt was receiving half-a-kilogram in the Premier Trophy last time out from the 101 merit rated six-year-old Milton, so it does not augur well that he failed to beat him.

However, he only got going late, was eating up the ground and only failed by a short-head.

He will relish the step up to 2000m and Kannemeyer added, “I have given him the easy route. I didn’t want him coming out of a hard race in the Queen’s Plate. I think he is up to it, he is exceptionally well and has a top, top jockey aboard.”

Last Winter won his debut as a two-year-old over 1200m on the Greyville poly.

Kannemeyer had high hopes for him and was targeting him at the Grade 1 Cape Guineas when he kicked a wall, which caused a hairline fracture of the pedal bone. He was off for close to a year, but came back to win two 1600m races at Scottsville in May and July respectively last year. He made his four-year-old debut in October and remained unbeaten by winning a MR98 Handicap over 1600m at Durbanville in cosy style, despite carrying topweight off a 99 merit rating. Then came his only defeat in the Premier Trophy on December 16.

He is out of Silvano mare Field Flower, who won the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas. However, his grandam Field Princess (Northfields) won from 1600-2400m, so he should have no problem staying 2000m.

By David Thiselton