Queensland's Michael Palmer is hopeful of overcoming a slow start in the National Apprentices' Series when he rides the Anthony Cummings-trained General Chaos in the second heat at Canterbury on Wednesday.Palmer, the son of former top international rider Gary Palmer, collected only one point when he finished fifth on the Chris Willis-trained Magical Gold in the series opener at Belmont Park in Perth last month.Apprentice Scott Bailey won the first heat to give South Australia the lead with seven

Queensland's Michael Palmer is hopeful of overcoming a slow start in the National Apprentices' Series when he rides the Anthony Cummings-trained General Chaos in the second heat at Canterbury on Wednesday.

Palmer, the son of former top international rider Gary Palmer, collected only one point when he finished fifth on the Chris Willis-trained Magical Gold in the series opener at Belmont Park in Perth last month.

Apprentice Scott Bailey won the first heat to give South Australia the lead with seven points, two clear of Victoria with NSW a further two points adrift in third place.

All remaining states and the Northern Territory have one point each ahead of the second heat in the Rosehill Gardens Event Centre Handicap (1550m).

"I don't know much about General Chaos other than he won his maiden at Wyong last start," Palmer said.

"But he's trained by Anthony Cummings and has the three alley so he's in with a chance."

Each state will again be represented with NSW having a strong five-pronged attack.

Flying the NSW flag will be Mitchell Beadman (The Fangsta), Daniel Ganderton (Irish Key), Nathan Berry (Golden Highway), Patrick Murphy (Regal Celeb) and Peter Wells (Pursuit).

The remaining riders will be South Australia's Libby Hopwood (Norteno), Victoria's William Egan (Canadian Ruler), Western Australia's Chloe Chatfield (Bentley Ess) and Tasmania's Jason Maskiell (Tha' Hab).

The Northern Territory will be represented by Glen Davis who will partner Impressionist.

Palmer is the brother of another top Queensland apprentice Matthew Palmer who rode successfully in Sydney last season before returning home to the Gold Coast last month.

Michael Palmer is looking forward to the challenge of riding in Sydney for the first time but has no intentions of basing himself there permanently.

"I was runner-up in our apprentices' championship in Brisbane last year and I'm quite happy to continue to ride in Queensland for the time being," Palmer said.

The Gai Waterhouse-trained Impressionist is the early favourite following his last-start victory in a 1350-metre Maiden at Wyong on October 28.

The four-year-old son of Catbird was placed at his first three starts at Warwick Farm and Rosehill before he resumed with a close fourth at Hawkesbury on October 12.