Healthy hopes for a Cup hat-trick
GROUP 1-winning trainer Phillip Stokes is pinning his hopes of snaring a third straight Adelaide Cup on a talented but injury-plagued globetrotter, who has won races in France, Britain, the United States and Australia.
The OTI-owned Amade has an impressive CV, headlined by his victory in the Group 2 Belmont Gold Cup in New York in 2019, and he’s shown a liking to Australian conditions by winning at Flemington over 2600m in April 2021 and finishing fourth to Tralee Rose in the Group 3 Geelong Cup in October that year.
However, the nine-year-old has had to deal with a series tendon and pelvis issues throughout his career, which has limited him to just 19 starts (for nine wins). It’s why Amade hasn’t raced since that spring campaign in 2021 but after a steady build-up, he’ll return to the track at Sandown on Saturday over 1800m.
Stokes knows exactly what it takes to win the Adelaide Cup, having held the trophy aloft with Good Idea (2021) and Daqiansweet Junior (2022), and thinks it’s a perfect target for his veteran.
The Belmont Gold Cup is run over the same 3200m trip and the day he won, the track was rated firm, so he should have no problems with the conditions he’s likely to find at Morphettville on Monday, March 13.
“He’s a lovely horse, he’s a Flemington winner, he’s got a big profile, he’s won in four different countries – he’s a very interesting runner,” Stokes said. “He’s got a lot of ability if I can get him right. I’m just a bit on the back foot because he was off the scene for quite a while with a few problems. But he’s had a good build-up, he’ll only have two runs going into this but I’m trusting his staying prowess and he should be there (in the Adelaide Cup).
“He’ll need the run on Saturday but he’ll take a lot of out it.”