Right from the time Deakin headed to the spelling paddock after a successful first campaign in Australia, trainer Phillip Stokes had the Group 1 Memsie Stakes as the starting point for the stayers’ spring campaign.
What Stokes didn’t realise was there happened to be another suitable 1400m on the same card at Caulfield as the Group 1 Memsie Stakes on Saturday.
So instead of kicking off in the Group 1 1400m contest against 10 Group 1 winners, Deakin will instead start his Melbourne Cup campaign in the Sportsbet Feed Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Once Saturday’s race is out of the way, Stokes said Deakin would revert to his original plan of tackling the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on September 13, the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 4 and the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 18.
That program all leads to the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 4, a race for which Deakin holds a ballot exemption courtesy of his win in The Roy Higgins (2600m) at Flemington in March.
Stokes said Saturday’s Memsie Stakes with its 10 Group 1 winners had come up stronger than he had first envisaged.
“I didn’t realise there was a benchmark 100 over the same trip on the same day,” Stokes said.
“I doubt he could win either race, so the benchmark 100 is an easier race, so we’ll kick him off in that and he’ll get just as much benefit from it.
“I didn’t think he needed a real high-pressure 1400-metre race to start off in, so we’ll switch to that and then revert to our original plan.
“Everything is all good, and we don’t have to pay a fortune to accept.”
Stokes said the prospects of a wet track was not ideal, but he expects the stayer to be running on at the business end.
“He’s better on top of the ground,” Stokes said.
“His first trial (this campaign) was on the wet and he didn’t really like it, but I couldn’t be happier with the way the horse is going.
“His work on Tuesday was very sharp.”
