Old-timer Amade kicks off another campaign at Caulfield with his trainer Phillip Stokes excited with the way the gelding is progressing.
Amade will be aimed at some of the lesser spring races during the Carnival after he kicks off in the Group 3 MRC Foundation Cup (2000m) on Saturday.
The gelding is in the twilight of career and has suffered potential career ending injuries during his 35 starts, that has netted 11 wins.
The now 11-year-old was not entered for the Caulfield Cup or Melbourne Cup with Stokes looking at next month’s Group 3 The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington and the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) as the main goals for the gelding this spring.
And longer term, Stokes would like to see Amade in the Listed Pakenham Cup (2500m) in December.
Amade won the Listed Sandown Cup (3200m) in June before heading north where he finished fifth in the Group 2 Brisbane Cup (3200m) at his most recent outing.
As part of his preparation for Saturday’s return, Amade finished sixth behind Warmonger in a Cranbourne 1200m barrier trial last month.
“He’s never been better, and we’ve even got him jumping out of the barriers,” Stokes said.
“So, he’ll go Saturday then to The Bart Cummings and the Geelong Cup and the possibly to the Pakenham Cup.
“We didn’t enter him for the Melbourne Cup as I doubt, he’d pass the vet tests. He’s had two bowed tendons and a pelvic fracture, so we won’t be going there.”
Amade has had a history of not jumping from the barriers, a bugbear of Stokes’ and something he believes has cost the gelding winning more races.
But this time around he has been beginning with the opposition in jump-outs and trials.
“We train him mainly up at the farm. He’s a happy horse and it seems to be working with him,” Stokes said.
“He’s going great and has retained some of his residual fitness, so we’ll see how we go on Saturday.”
