Craig Cross' Alta Orlando and Cruz to contest Group 2 Shirley Turnbull Memorial

Alta Orlando has only gotten better with every start since he finished runner-up to Colt Thirty One in this year's Group 1 Black's A Fake at Albion Park.

His latest run was a stunning win in the Group 3 Alf Phillis Free For All over former Inter Dominion champion Tiger Tara and past Miracle Mile winner My Field Marshall.

While his two classy rivals were only making their first up runs this preparation it's still the sort of result from Alta Orlando that makes people sit up and pay attention.

His stabelmate is also turning heads.

Cruz flew home with a quick final half on Saturday to make it back-to-back victories beyond the 2,200 metre mark.

Luke McCarthy drove the Cross duo in their recent wins and has been impressed by the way they've worked into their respective preparations.

"When we first got [Alta Orlando] he ran second in the Blake's A Fake Group 1 in Queensland. Anthony Butt drove him that race, I was on Cash N Flow, but he went super in that one," he said.

"He came back to Sydney and has continued to take that next step. He won his race quite easily on the weekend.

"He had a good trip but he runs the times. There's never going to be much between those horses now. It's just going to come down to draws and getting the right runs."

Those high opinions carry over to Cruz.

"He went 53 in the final half to win over the 2,300m at Menangle the other night," McCarthy said.

"We took him to Melton where he won on Victoria Cup night and we think he's pretty handy.

"He's unlucky not to win his last two. In that race where Hail Christian won he went over the line jogging and he just couldn't get a run so we were quite confident he was going to be hard to beat on Saturday night."