Phillip Stokes heads to the Golden Mile at Bendigo concerned the topweight in the 16-horse field may be a run short.
A proven galloper second-up, Arran Bay jumps from 1200m to the 1600m of Saturday’s Listed race.
Arran Bay commenced his most recent campaign at Moonee Valley last month, beating just one runner home, but Stokes said it is worth completely overlooking the run.
“We were pretty worried with the way the track was playing that day,” Stokes said.
“We said to just look after him, so he went to the rail and went around for a look.
“He may not be as wound up for this after that soft run first-up. It was frustrating, but that was as bad a track as I have seen for a long time.”
Arran Bay will be having his first start at Bendigo, having won nine of his previous 35 starts and a little over $850,000 in prize money.
Stokes said Arran Bay had come a long way from when he started racing over short trips in Adelaide to progress firstly to 1400m, then to 1600m and further on to 2000m.
That 2000m outing was last November, finishing third to Torranzino who went on to win the Group 3 Easter Cup at Caulfield last week.
“He’s good at the mile and he did run third over 2000 metres last time in,” Stokes said.
“If you had seen him in his early days at Morphettville, he was a jump and run horse, but the farm has helped settle him down and he’s now mature in the head with the racing.
“He’s been good for the owners getting up near the $1 million mark after he spent his first half in Adelaide.
“Second-up, out to the mile, he’ll run well, but I still think he’s still got a bit of progression.
“After this he will go to the R A Lee Stakes.”
Renamed The Cummings Stakes, and run at Group 3 level, that race will be run over 1600m at Morphettville on May 10.
