Astute Adelaide trainer Phillip Stokes is carefully planning every move of his stable star Hucklebuck, reports Racing Network. The three-year-old son of Elsvtroem resumed in Adelaide on Saturday with a soft win, and Stokes has confirmed the horse would next run in Melbourne.
“He’ll come over for the C.S. Hayes in two weeks before he goes back again for the Australian Guineas,” Stokes said. “He will float over there on the Thursday night before the Hayes and come straight back on the Sunday after the race,” Stokes said of the Group 3 $150,000 1400-metre event at Flemington on February 15.
He will then follow exactly the same pattern when he comes back for the Group 1 $500,000 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 1.
Hucklebuck has already proven his class, winning the Gothic Stakes at Caulfield before a brave second to Paximadia in the Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) on Derby Day at Flemington.
He resumed over 1200-metres on Saturday and won comfortably after hitting the front too soon.
“He probably sprinted too quickly when he let go, but he’s pulled up really well and all systems are go now for Melbourne,” Stakes told RN.
Hucklebuck is an $11 chance in the latest fixed-odds betting markets.