Strong hand for Stokes stable in Adelaide Cup

Good Idea racing news
Good Idea winning the 2020 Summer Stayers Series Final at Moonee Valley. (Brett Holburt/Racing Photos)

Boasting last year’s winner, this year’s favourite, and Jamie Kah to boot, the Stokes yard has some heavy artillery aimed at Monday’s $300,000 Adelaide Cup.

Good Idea ($17) and Daqiansweet Junior ($4.80) will both line up in Morphettville’s 3200m Group 2 feature, and Adelaide stable boss Tommy Stokes believes the latter could stamp himself as a stayer of the future.

“He’s only four, but if he can be competitive in an Adelaide Cup this year, he’s got a big future,” Stokes said.

“I think he’s a really good, up and coming stayer, but he’s untested over the trip.

“Both his sire and his dam suggest he’ll get it. He’s by a European stallion (Sweet Orange) who produces horses that stay all day.

“He settles so well in his races, as you would’ve seen in his replays, so he’ll do everything he can to get the trip.”

Daqiansweet Junior has been a model of consistency since joining the Stokes stable in mid-2021, after doing almost all his previous racing in New Zealand.

He has won four of his past five runs, starting with a 1600m victory at Pakenham in late November, before most recently finishing second to fellow Adelaide Cup runner Skelm in a 2500m Listed race at Moonee Valley last month.

Helping the horse’s chances of getting the two miles is the presence of former Adelaide jockey, now Melbourne-based superstar Jamie Kah.

“Jamie’s very eager to win her first Adelaide Cup so I think she’s got a good chance in it,” Stokes said.

“It probably gives the stable confidence too. I’m sure she would’ve got a few offers in the race, but she was very keen to take our horse.”

Daqiansweet Junior meets top weight Skelm 1.5kg better than the pair’s recent clash. Kah will negotiate the trip from barrier two, while Michael Poy has barrier 11 aboard the Terry Kelly runner.

Good Idea won the Cup in dashing style last year, after finishing second in 2020, and according to Stokes is going every bit as well now, despite a plain run in the Roy Higgins Quality (2600m) at Flemington a week ago.

“The team are pretty confident that he’s in very similar order as last year – they reckon he’s actually more wound up for it, which is a positive,” Stokes said.

“He loves the travel over to Adelaide and he’s run in the race two times for a top two finish in both. He rises 3kg on last year, but he’s going really well.

“Yes, we probably expected a little bit more last Saturday, to be honest, but it was just a blowout basically.

“He ran in the same race last year and didn’t blow them away either, so we’re confident we can bounce back.”

Monday looms as a big day for the stable, which has runners in two other Black Type races.

Stokes expects two-year-old filly Runaway Belle to perform much better than her $31 quote suggests in the Listed Cinderella Stakes over 1050m.

“She’s still a maiden, but she’s a really nice horse in the making,” he said.

“Her first-up run at Moonee Valley was super. She’s still quite green, didn’t handle the track too well, but that last 100 metres she absolutely stormed home.

“So up in trip 150m will suit.

“She’s there to run a drum.”

Just prior to the Adelaide Cup, Stokes is hoping to see the best of enigmatic but talented Sansom in the Listed Matrice Stakes (1200m).

After winning the Group 3 Bletchingly at Caulfield five starts back, Sansom has finished no better than seventh, however that sequence of runs included Group 1 and Group 2 engagements.

“He’s been a bit below par his last few,” Stokes said.

“But he’s been trained a lot differently this time around. My mum and dad have been training him out of their farm, which is close to the track there at Pakenham.

“They’re really happy with the way he’s been working and trialling, so hopefully he can return to form for us.

“He’s got a bit of a sticky gate, but if he gets some luck in running, they’re confident he can turn his form around.”

Sansom will carry top weight of 60.5kg in the Matrice, with Ben Allen starting from barrier 11. Adelaide-trained Manhattan Times – an impressive last-start winner – is the early favourite at around $4 with .

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