Phillip Stokes as long had this year’s Adelaide Cup in mind as a season goal for Amade, but he didn’t expect it would be the continuation of a campaign that started in September.
The 10-year-old will be given the chance to go two spots better than last year’s third placing when he lines up for the eighth run of the preparation in Monday’s $400,000 Group 2.
Amade won the Group 3 Geelong Cup on October 25 at his third run for the preparation, but has benefitted from having runs spaced and freshened at Stokes’ farm at Garfield to have taken in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Nov 11), Zipping Classic (Dec 2), Bagot Handicap (Jan 1) and Torney Night Cup (Feb 23) since.
“He won a Geelong Cup in spring and here he is still racing in good order,” Stokes said.
“These 10-year-olds, you’ve got to keep them ticking over. If you tip them out, they lose interest, plus we’ve got the farm, which has been a big secret.
“He’s got a big weight to carry but he’s racing great for a 10-year-old.”
Amade was allocated 58kg in the 3200-metre Adelaide Cup, which is 1kg less than Aurora’s Symphony, with no others weighted above 53.5kg.
The son of Casamento has carried at least 59kg in each of his past three starts and his tendency to miss the start could be a bigger impediment to his chances than the weight.
Amade jumped with the field in the Zipping Classic and Bagot Handicap, but missed the start by eight lengths in the Torney Cup before charging home to finish third.
“If something upsets in in the barriers, he’ll just stand there,” Stokes said.
“The other day when he went in there they took the blindfold off a bit too early and then something played up next to him and you just knew straight away he wasn’t going to jump.”
The final field for the Adelaide Cup will be declared on Thursday with barriers drawn on Friday.
Daqiansweet Junior, the horse Stokes won his hometown Cup with two years ago, will also be in action this long weekend but at Flemington in the $200,000 Australian Cup Prelude (1800m).
“He seems to be ticking over nicely, it’ll be well short of his best, but it’s a tick-over race to get him ready for the Sydney Cup,” Stokes said of last year’s Melbourne Cup fifth placegetter.
