The Little Engine That Could is known as a story of optimism and hard work - a fitting tale for punters if ever there was one.

The Little Engine That Could's story of perseverance is particularly apt on the back of the very testing meeting for punters last week - The Melbourne Mail came unstuck along with Kenjorwood, who ran well but ultimately struggled in what proved to be fairly testing ground.

Can De Little Engine pull punters over the mountain at Flemington this weekend? We think he can, we think he can.

He was very good fresh, hitting the line nicely over a mile, and he travelled strongly last time before being out-sprinted off a modest tempo over 2000m.

He's going as well as well as ever based on those two runs and he gets to his trip now against lesser rivals.

Better than 3/1 looks a good gamble based on that.

For the each way play we head to a heat of the Winter Championship and side with the former kiwi Sir Andrew who left a good impression on his Australian debut.

He's up in class today but sectional analysis pointed to Sir Andrew being the best performance in his race last time and his Hawkes Bay Guineas win back in his homeland points to him being right up to the level required here.

It's a good, competitive race but at $8.50 and better Sir Andrew is certainly one worth having running for us.

THE MELBOURNE MAIL

Best Bet: Race 4 #7 De Little Engine @ $4.00

Each Way Play: Race 8 #15 Sir Andrew @ $8.50