Big guns Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy have more than justified their star billing with commanding heat wins on debut at the Stawell Gift. Schoolboy superstar Gout (1m) won the second-last of 22 heats in 12.31 seconds on Saturday. Racing off the backmark of 0.25m in the final heat, the 21-year-old Kennedy was even more impressive. He had the race in his keeping well before the finish line and cruised home in 12.23 - the third quickest time overall. "I had heaps of fun," said Kennedy. "It's a little bit daunting when the others start so much in front of you (and) you have to chase people down. "The atmosphere and the crowd here is incredible." The semi-finals and finals of the men's and women's Gifts take place on Easter Monday, with both winners to pocket $40,000. "The plan is to just rest up, have a cruisy Sunday, hang out with some friends and then give it all I've got on Monday." said Kennedy. Gout does quite a bit of his training on grass, but racing on it was a whole new experience. "It feels great, the track is great and the run is obviously great," he said. "I just can't wait for the semis and, hopefully, for the final." The fastest heat winner on Saturday in the 143rd edition of the 120m handicap event was John Evans, who stopped the clock at 12.13 off a mark of 9.75m. Defending champ Jack Lacey (6m) won his heat in 12.44. Flying Queenslanders Gout and Kennedy have developed quite the friendly rivalry in recent months, with Kennedy taking the honours over 200m in their head-to-head clash late last month at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne. Kennedy was a close second behind Rohan Browning in the 100m last weekend at the Australian championships in Perth, with Gout saluting in the under-20 100m and the open 200m. Kennedy also won silver in the 60m at the world indoor championships in Nanjing, China in early April. The headline acts also delivered in the heats of the women's Gift on Saturday. Paris Olympics 100m semi-finalist Bree Rizzo looked to have plenty in reserve as she won the last heat off scratch in 13.91. Fellow scratch marker and defending Gift champ Chloe Mannix-Power won her heat in 13.95.