Elite Blue Size, which won the group 1 National Derby at The Gardens on February 5, began slowly from the rails box in his heat last Saturday before muscling his way through the field to lead on the first turn and win by a length.

"If he comes out he will lead and he is going to give them something to catch," Kay said.

"He missed it bad for him the other night and only ran 5.04 seconds for the first section which he normally covers in between 4.8 and 4.9.

"It has been a pretty good run in the circumstances and his time of 29.88 was only about five lengths slower than the fastest of the heat winners Snozz [29.51].

Elite Blue Size was having his first run since damaging a ligament in his toe when he finished seventh in the Dapto Megastar on July 29.

"It was a race against the clock to have him ready for the heats and he was a bit buggered after the race which was only to be expected," Kay said.

"He has done well since and he trialled brilliantly up the straight over 360 metres at the Keinbah trial track on Tuesday.

"A repeat of that trial and he will be hard to beat."

Kay said the final line-up was an even field but he would not want to swap his blue dog for any other in the race.

"He will have derived a lot of benefit from his run the other night," Kay said.