Sydneyâs James Cummings has opted not to test Good Standing over the Victoria Derby distance this weekend instead saving the Ladbrokes Stakes winner for Saturday weekâs Emirates Stakes 2016.
Ladbrokes Stakes winner Good Standing bypasses the VRC Derby in favour of the following weekend’s 2016 Emirates Stakes. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
Last time out the Artie Schiller colt won the Group 3 Ladbrokes Stakes (2000m) â registered as the Norman Robinson Stakes â one of the key lead-up races to the $1.5 million Group 1 AAMI Victoria Derby (2500m).
The 2016 Victoria Derby runs at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday, but Good Standing will not line-up in the capacity field of young stayers.
Instead, as planned after his last start win on Caulfield Cup Day, the smart three-year-old will take on the older horses at weight-for-age in the new-look Emirates Stakes on November 5.
“We weighed it all up and I provided the owners as much feedback as possible, from his jockeys and riders, and Gooree are concerned he may be too brilliant for the Derby,” Cummings told Racing Victoria.
Previously run as the Mackinnon Stakes on Derby Day, this year the $2 million Group 1 Emirates Stakes (2000m) has boosted prizemoney and prestige.
Originally a target for superstar back-to-back Cox Plate winner Winx, before connections opted to send her out for a well-earned spell in the paddock, the Emirates Stakes is now a much more open affair.
Cummings hopes to capitalise on that with Good Standing, already proven at the distance, when he runs at WFA for the first time on the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
âOnce it was confirmed Winx wasn’t running, it makes the task realistic,â he said.
“I think it will be beneficial to expose him to older horses at this stage of his career and put him in good stead for his next preparation.”
The only three-year-old Emirates Stakes winner (when run on VRC Derby Day) in the past 30 years was Casual Pass (2003) who came off a Norman Robinson Stakes win.
The 2016 Emirates Stakes nominations close on Monday, October 31, before the final field is released on Wednesday â one day after the Melbourne Cup is run and won on the first Tuesday of November.
Cummings will still be represented in the VRC Derby field this weekend by his Group 1 winning More Than Ready colt Prized Icon, out to improve on a fifth to fellow Derby hopeful Sacred Elixir in last Saturdayâs Group 2 Moonee Valley Vase (2040m).
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