DESPITE the strong presence of the foreign horses, jockey Johnny Geroudis sounded hopeful in his quest in the S$3 million (HK$12.9 million) Singapore Airlines International Cup and S$1 million (HK$4.3 million) SA KrisFlyer Sprint on Saturday.

He has good reasons to. After all, he will be riding two of Singapore's brightest chances - Palace Line in the Group 1 Cup race over 2000m and Blizz Bless in the Group 3 KrisFlyer Sprint over 1200m. Furthermore, his mounts have home-ground advantage.

Said the South African of Palace Line: ''I would say he's among the best, definitely. He should run very well. He's fit and well. He should go very well.'

Palace Line, a six-time winner in South Africa, has been unbeaten in both starts at Kranji. The three-year-old Australian-bred by Palace Music made a winning debut in the Singapore Guineas over 1600m on Jan 11. He then beat an international cast in the Singapore Classic over 1,800m and set a course record of 1:48.0. Second in the race was France's Lethals Lady who ran down the field in the Audemars Piguet QE II Cup.

Palace Line was shipped to contest the UAE Derby at Nad al Sheba in March and ran a respectable sixth behind Essence Of Dubai with Geroudis astride.

Trainer Patrick Shaw has been kept his stable star fresh for the Cup race and Palace Line is probably the best of the five Kranji-based horses.

Geroudis said that he always rated Blizz Bless, another Shaw-trained horse,as a very good horse from the day he got here.

He added: "And he has just got better and better. We will know how good he is on Saturday.''

For the record, Blizz Bless has been unbeaten in his last five starts, the last of which was in the 1,200m Fischer Stakes over 1200m in 1:10.1 carrying 126 lbs. KrisFlyer Sprint candidates Trillion Win and Yorick were among the horses he beat that day.

Blizz Bless is more of a 1400m horse but if he stays just behind the speed, he should have a strong say.

Trainer Patrick Busuttin is also upbeat about his Horse of the Year Bocelli's chances in the SAI Cup.

Said the New Zealander: "He's the best that he's been since the Singapore Derby. He's very well and very fit. He's improved after each run since resuming from a break and he will be at his peak on Saturday.

"He's a lot fitter than he was in Hong Kong where he finished less than five lengths from the winner after a long and hard campaign.''

Fellow Kiwi trainer Laurie Laxon is pleased with his Cup trio -- Saddle Up, Tapildo and Hoeberg.

He said: "All three are going well. Hoeberg is in great shape. Saddle Up is peaking at the right time and Tapildo is in good order.''