Stokes stable in fine fettle after Saturday’s stakes double
Deakin (Australia) is the last horse Phillip Stokes sees before his head hits the pillow and the first when he opens his curtains each morning, with the last-start Roy Higgins (Listed, 2600m) winner currently enjoying a spell in the paddock adjacent to the trainer’s farmhouse on the outskirts of Pakenham.
Terry Henderson, the proprietor of OTI Racing, paid a visit to Stokes’ sprawling Garfield property on Monday morning to check in on his homebred five-year-old, whose tough performance at Flemington earned his connections the first ticket into the 2025 Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) – a race his trainer and managing owner covet above all others.
Deakin formed the first leg of a quickfire two-state stakes double for the Stokes yard on Saturday, with Comanche Miss (Castelvecchio) carrying the famous Arrowfield colours to victory some 15 minutes later in the Clare Lindop Stakes (Listed, 1600m) over the Morphettville mile.
The valuable filly will now press onto the Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) via the Auraria Stakes (Gr 3, 1800m), whereas Deakin will be wrapped in cotton wool for the next five weeks before beginning his build-up to a spring campaign aimed squarely at peaking on the first Tuesday in November.
OTI and Stokes are forming a formidable association with their staying horses, having enjoyed previous success with dual stakes winner Amade (Casamento) and their Adelaide Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) victor Daqiansweet Junior (Sweet Orange), who finished inside the top six on each of his two Melbourne Cup appearances in 2022 and 2023.
If that pair were built more in the mould of dour stayers, Deakin – who started his career in Ireland with Joseph O’Brien before being transported to Australia late last year – perhaps possesses more precocity and that crucial ability to quicken at the end of his races.
That much was in evidence when, at only his fourth start for Stokes, he thrashed his rivals by 5.5 lengths in the Torney Cup (Listed, 2500m) in February.
The trainer admits that, having largely built his reputation on sprinters and middle distance horses prior to his involvement with OTI, it initially took some time for him to locate the key to unlocking the potential of imported stayers.
“There was probably a fair degree of trial and error in the early days,” Stokes told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“A lot of these European horses tend to have a big lung capacity, so they’re natural staying types and you don’t need to be flogging them on the track. Our main job really is to try to get that sharp turn of foot into them.
“I think I’ve got a bit of a handle on them now, but it probably has taken us a while to figure them out.
“Obviously they’re all different, so you have to treat them all as individuals. Some horses acclimatise much quicker, whereas others take 12 months or more to get used to their new environment. Deakin has definitely been one of our quicker imports to adapt, he has slipped seamlessly into our systems since arriving from quarantine.
“Obviously Terry bred him and had him when he raced in Ireland, so he knows the horse inside out and was able to fill us in on what works best for him. He’s really thrived since we got him, and it’s great to continue the success we’ve had with OTI, because I know how much the Melbourne Cup means to Terry.
“Daqiansweet Junior ran really well for us in the Cup, there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and November but if everything goes to plan with Deakin and we can get him there in the sort of form he’s been showing recently, then you’d have to hope he’d be really competitive.”
Stokes has no qualms about Deakin staying the distance in the 3200-metre Group 1 and will look to take a conventional path towards it in the spring, kicking off in the Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington in September before tackling the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) in October.
“He hasn’t raced over two miles before, but in all his runs for us ‘Stacky’ [Daniel Stackhouse] has had trouble pulling him up after the line, so he hasn’t been stopping and gives us every indication that he’ll get the trip,” he said.
“We’ll look to follow the traditional path to the Cup, kicking off in the Makybe Diva then going into the Caulfield Cup. The exact plan hasn’t been confirmed just yet, but we’ve got a bit of time on our side and it shouldn’t take too long to get some fitness into his legs after his break.
“He’s quite a seasoned horse now and will obviously still have some residual fitness from his last prep.”
For his part, Henderson firmly believes that Stokes’ Garfield property – which features a training track as well as spelling paddocks – has contributed to the sustained success they have enjoyed in recent years.
“There are a number of reasons why our partnership with Phillip is going so well,” Henderson said.
“He’s a very hands-on trainer, which I like, and his 140-acre property has got a great set-up. The facility has got everything you need for horses, whether they’re spelling or in pre-training.
“He can see the horses every day in their paddock, so he knows how they’re going and because it’s only about ten kilometres from their stables at Pakenham, they can move the horses with ease between the two locations.
“He’s found the right formula and our imported horses really seem to enjoy their time there, maybe because it’s quite a European set-up. There’s plenty of space to keep them happy because that’s what they’ve been used to in Europe. It’s a great resource for him and we’re very fortunate to be able to tap into it with our horses.”
Having bred Deakin by sending his mare Dealbata (Dubawi) to Coolmore Ireland’s Australia (Galileo), Henderson decided to retain him after failing to find a buyer at the Arqana Sales in France; and Arrowfield supremo John Messara took the same decision with Comanche Miss after she fell short of her $150,000 reserve price at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
The decision to race the filly with Stokes appears to have paid off in both the short and longer term, with the daughter of Arrowfield’s emerging stallion Castelvecchio (Dundeel) becoming her sire’s fifth stakes winner at the weekend.
A half-sister to Belmont Newmarket (Listed, 1200m) winner Super Maxi (Redoute’s Choice), Comanche Miss will be set the task of becoming the third filly to claim the Australasian Oaks for Stokes Racing after Marju Snip (Marju) and Maybe Discreet (Shamardal) emerged victorious in 2006 and 2013 respectively.
Despite entering Saturday’s Clare Lindop Stakes as a seven-start maiden, Comanche Miss had encountered some quality opposition in her embryonic career with Sunlight’s (Zoustar) son Dawn Service (Justify) and multiple stakes winners Too Darn Discreet (Too Darn Hot) and Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) taking out the first three races in which she competed.
Stokes never lost faith in the filly’s latent talent and believes she will be even better suited when she eventually gets out to 2000 metres – the distance at which her sire excelled, winning the 2020 Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) and running second to Shadow Hero (Pierro) in the 2019 Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
“She’s very exciting,” Stokes said.
“We’ve had a high opinion of her from the start, and that didn’t waver even though she kept finding one too good. I’d said to John [Messara] all along that I think she’s a stakes class filly, and luckily we were proved right on Saturday.
“I’d always had it in my mind to run her in that race on Saturday on the way through to the Australasian Oaks, and we were delighted to get some black type on her page for John and the team at Arrowfield.
“The Auraria Stakes is the traditional lead-up to the Oaks, so we’ll run her in that next then all being well press onto her grand final. I do think she’ll get the trip, she’s obviously by Castelvecchio and her dam [Ocean Challenger] won a stakes race over the mile, so she’s got the right pedigree.
“We had a bit of luck with Arrowfield early in my career, so it’s always nice to train a winner in those colours and she could be a very valuable filly if she can keep improving.”
Castelvecchio gets the chance to produce his first Group 1 winner since joining Arrowfield’s premium roster when his unbeaten daughter Verona Rose contests the rescheduled Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Rosehill on Tuesday afternoon.
Gary Portelli’s last-start Kembla Grange Classic (Gr 3, 1600m) winner will be out to upset the odds-on favourite Treasurethe Moment, who is aiming for a seventh straight win for her trainer Matt Laurie and owners Yulong.