The most experienced two-miler in the Sydney Cup field, Victorian Amade will bid to follow in the footsteps of stablemate Daqiansweet Junior when he lines up in the $2 million race.
Daqiansweet Junior finished third in last year’s renewal and trainer Phillip Stokes can see parallels between his two stayers.
“Last year we had Daqiansweet Junior who won the Adelaide Cup and then ran third in the Sydney Cup,” Stokes said.
“I don’t think there’s a great deal of difference between the two and this horse is on song.”
Amade also comes to Sydney via the Adelaide Cup, the gelding having finished third to Rebel Racer in last month’s feature at what was just his third run back from a lengthy break.
Prior to this campaign, he had spent 16 months on the sidelines with a tendon injury, the second extended injury-enforced break of his career.
But Stokes has been heartened by the horse’s past two runs, a third to Right Your Are second-up in the Victoria Gold Cup (2100m) at Sandown in February and his Adelaide Cup placing.
He drops six kilos for Saturday’s race and with three wins and two placings from five starts over 3200m, including his 2019 Belmont Gold Cup victory, Amade is the most experienced two-miler in the Sydney Cup field.
Stokes has worked hard to give the lightly raced nine-year-old a strong foundation for his campaign, and the horse won’t be found wanting on the score of fitness.
“We’re very lucky here at Pakenham. We’ve got our own farm and it has an uphill training track which is heavy sand. He did a lot of his pre-work there and we find that gets a really good base under them,” Stokes said.
“He just comes into his own when he gets to this journey and that’s a big positive.”
The Sydney Cup field has been reduced to 18 following the scratchings of Gin Martini and Torrens, while Chairman’s Quality winner Surefire is under a fitness cloud.
The Chris Waller-trained stayer showed signs of lameness in his near front foot during a routine veterinary examination on Thursday and will need to undergo a further test to determine if he can take his place.
