Deakin books Melbourne Cup spot in Roy Higgins
OTI Racing’s European import Deakin (5 g Australia – Dealbata by Dubawi) snared a place in November’s Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) when running out a 0.4 lengths winner of Saturday’s Roy Higgins Quality (Listed, 2600m) at Flemington.
A winner of two of his nine starts when trained in Ireland by dual Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Joseph O’Brien, the five-year-old gelding has improved in each of his five starts in Australia.
Having run down the field in a Benchmark 78 (1600m) at Ballarat on his Australian debut, Deakin then won a Benchmark 78 (2000m) before a runner-up finish in a Benchmark 100 (2000m) at Flemington in January.
Heading over to The Valley last month, the Phillip Stokes-trained son of Australia (Galileo) bolted up by 5.5 lengths in the Torney Night Cup (Listed, 2500m) and followed that up on Saturday as he defeated Berkshire Breeze (Mastercraftsman) to land the Roy Higgins under Daniel Stackhouse.
There was a further four lengths back to the third-placed Mostly Cloudy (Harzand), with Torney Night Cup runner-up Garachico (Ribchester) in fourth and Newfoundland (Deep Impact) in fifth as European imports filled the top five placings.
“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.”
Stackhouse, who has ridden Deakin at each of his Australian starts, was pleased with his mount’s finishing effort off a slow pace.
“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,” the winning rider 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.”