David Hayes will abandon plans to run Spillway in the Caulfield Cup. Hayes said Spillway’s ninth behind Junoob in last Saturday’s Metropolitan at Randwick raised doubt whether the five-year-old is a genuine stayer.

While Hayes thought James McDonald rode Spillway closer to the tempo than he would have liked, he said it was hard to push on towards any of the staying races on his Metropolitan performance.

“There is a bit of a query whether he stays,” Hayes said. “I think I’ll freshen him up and go to the Mackinnon.”

Hayes said stablemate Stipulate, another who had been in the mix for the Caulfield Cup, may also not be a true stayer.

He said Craig Williams queried whether Stipulate, who ran fifth behind Lucia Valentina in the Turnbull Stakes, would run out 2400 metres.

“I thought he had his chance to win and he ran about as well as Puissance de Lune (whoh finished fourth),” Hayes said.

“It was an even sort of run. I’ll have a chat with the owner and see what he wants to do.”