While it’s the New Zealand fillies which have received the lion’s share of attention all week, Heidilicious has rapidly become a big contender with punters.

Scarlett Lady has won five in row and accounted for much of this field easily in The Roses and compatriot Shez Sinsational has plenty of wraps coming into her first start across the ditch.

However its’ the sixth placed finisher in The Roses, Heidilicious which is now turning the most heads.

In her last start she rearing the stalls as the gates opened and effectively gave up any hope of winning the race instantly.

Despite this she was worked back into the pack and down the home straight she put in a monster run to beat home the majority of the field.

It was that close which has seen Heidilicious become the most backed runner over the last 24 hours with most betting agencies.

It’s also done enough to convince John Sadler that he has another Group 1 win sitting tantalisingly close.

“With Group 1s, they’re so hard to win, it’s best to keep your mouth shut going into them,” Sadler said.

“But I’ve got to say I really think this filly will run well. She’ll just love the 2400m and she’s one of those horses who has just kept improving. I’m really keen on her, I’ve got to say.”

After the emergencies come out she’s likely to jump from barrier 13 which could work for her pre-race but will obviously make things a touch more difficult after they open.

“There’s probably a bit of a plus and a bit of a minus with the gate,” Sadler said.

“She won’t get bottled up from there but if she’d drawn a bit closer in I’d have liked to have ridden her a bit more closely this time but from there we’ll probably have to go back again.”

Her trackwork has been aided by the fact Sadler has another winning chance in his stable The Chevron.

They worked together this week as The Chevron prepares for a hopeful start in the Queensland Derby next week.

“The filly didn’t do much. She’s just where I want her,” he said.

“I reckon they’re both terrific top-five chances. But there might be a problem with The Chevron that we can’t really control and that is that he’s 24th on the order of entry and they only run 18.

“They’ve all paid the final fees now and you’d reckon they wouldn’t do that unless they were really keen to run, so he might miss a start.”

If he does miss out on the Derby it’s likely he’ll still get a start at eagle Farm.

“We might even look at a start in the Brisbane Cup (2400m, next Saturday) if he can’t get into the Derby,” Sadler said.