Will City of Melton Plate bring out the best of Denis?

The largely untapped but emerging talent that is Denis William will announce his arrival as a pacer en route to open class should he prevail in the Group 2 City Of Melton Plate this Saturday night at Tabcorp Park.

The son of Art Major bounced back from an uncharacteristic failure in The Breakthrough Final when he sprinted quickly off a genuine tempo to score in 1:52.2min a fortnight ago at Melton.

There were excuses for his down-the-track effort two starts ago according to co-trainer Simone Walker.

“He pulled up with the thumps,” said Walker.

Despite boasting a race record of 11 wins from 34 starts, Walker believes Denis William is still a work in progress.

“I think there is more coming,” she said.

“He has got tall but he hasn’t filled out yet.”

Walker is hoping the five-year-old’s brain catches up to his considerable talent.

“He goes up to them and then doesn’t really know what to do, so many times he has been beaten by his own fault,” she said.

Walker concedes she will need a healthy slice of luck from her second row draw this Saturday night at Victorian harness racing headquarters.

“He needs the race run to suit, he’s a free-striding horse who likes the pace on in his races,” she said.

Russell Jack is the man most likely to thwart Denis William’s opportunity to post his biggest success to date.

Jack puts the polish on both the $2.50 favourite Boots Electric and the $3.30 second elect Hi Manameisjeff.

A Cobram Cup winner in January, Boots Electric wasn’t disgraced finishing fourth in a strong edition of the Horsham Pacing Cup at his latest outing, however it will take all of Nathan Jack’s skill to overcome an outside second row draw.

The lightly-raced Hi Manameisjeff was placed behind Denis William in the race at Melton after sitting parked and would be the horse to beat if he happened to find the pegs ahead of his rivals.