Phillip Stokes and OTI Racing and start mapping a campaign aimed at culminating on November 4 after Deakin won Saturday’s Listed Roy Higgins (2600m) at Flemington.
The imported gelding not only earned connections $180,000 and a second-straight Stakes success after his runaway win in the Listed Torney Cup, but also a prized ballot exemption from this year’s Melbourne Cup.
Stokes is already excited about the journey towards Australia’s most famous race and was thrilled to see the five-year-old justify the faith he has in him.
“It’s a very important win, just to see the progression the horse has made from when he came to us,” Stokes said.
“He’s got a start in the Melbourne Cup, that’s great, and we’ll just have to plot a path towards it.
“Which way we go is probably through a Caulfield Cup I would have thought, but he’s a very exciting horse and it’s a credit to train him.”
Deakin, a son of Australia, made it three wins from five starts since arriving in Australia when he dug deep to hold off Berkshire Breeze in a thrilling finish.
That duo settled down to fight out the race from before the halfway point in the long Flemington straight and Daniel Stackhouse, who has ridden Deakin at each of his Australian starts, got him home by a neck.
Four lengths behind Berkshire Breeze, the $6.50 second favourite, in third position was Mostly Cloudy ($7).
“The pace wasn’t very quick from get-go and he just got a little bit keen being a bit fresh between runs, it’s been over a month now,” Stackhouse said.
“He just wanted to get the job over and done with a little bit, he didn’t really settle that well but it was nice with (Mostly) Cloudy put some speed into the race and he actually relaxed really nicely.
“He had to dig deep for it, he showed a good turn of foot and he can stay.”
