Victoria’s red carpet racing returns to Sandown Park with heats of the Cranbourne Cup this Thursday night, which sparks momentum towards the Dream Chasers Festival.

It’ll be the third Cranbourne Cup series run at Sandown Park and it’ll probably be the last, with construction of a new track at Cranbourne well underway and planned to be ready around this time next year.

The fields are strong with the contingent from the Geelong region glaring.

Here are the headline acts.

HEAT 1
No mucking around for Bendigo Cup winner Dr. Asher (6) who’s back in action. Stomping (5) is approaching veteran status but absolutely flew at The Meadows last Wednesday.

HEAT 2
Despite the stigma of box 8 at the track, impressive Group 1 winner Slick Splits (8) is well drawn. Nigel Devere (2) and Cheeky Chompers (4) are both going well but face a class rise.

HEAT 3
Defending champion Vincent Bale (4) has been winless since April but he’s still intimidating – ran home in a ludicrous time of 10.26 last Thursday. Bagman (8) just doesn’t run bad races.

HEAT 4
Lakeview Emily (3) needs no introduction, aims to bounce back after she was well back in a Million Dollar Chase semi-final. Mepunga Tully (1) performed admirably on her return to racing in a Bendigo Cup heat, without doubt better for the run and a return to a city track.

HEAT 5
Flying Zulu (3) has been up and down of late – drawn poorly here with mad railer Tribeca (4) on his outside. Wyong Dallas (7) isn’t humming but does return to a track he’s performed very well at.

With five heats the winners and three fastest runner-ups will progress to next Thursday’s $40,000 to-the-winner final.

Catch my thoughts on every race before-the-jump on Sky Racing 1.

Vincent Bale (5) wins last year’s Cranbourne Cup