Phillip Stokes’ team remains fully content with their decision to keep Deakin at home rather than sending him to the Adelaide Cup earlier this month. Instead, the promising stayer will line up in the Roy Higgins Quality at Flemington this Saturday.

For weeks, Deakin had been the frontrunner in the betting for the Group 2 Adelaide Cup (3200m), but the stable ultimately decided that avoiding the trip across state lines and its potential complications was the wiser choice.

“We’re rapt,” said Stokes’ stable representative Shae Dinunzio.

“The price we would have paid to go there in the weather at the time, running on a 40-degree day and carrying 59 kilos in a two-mile race for the first time, the risk was greater than the reward.

“We thought it was best to keep him here and jump him out in between and follow the same recipe we did last time with him.”

Deakin’s most recent start saw him claim victory in the Listed Torney Night Cup at Moonee Valley in February. Now, as he steps up to the 2600-metre trip at Flemington, the stable has their eyes set on the ultimate prize—a golden ticket into the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) in November.

“He worked on the training grass at Pakenham on Saturday morning and he worked super,” Dinunzio added.

“Joe Bowditch rode him and he couldn’t have been happier with him.

“If he wins the Roy Higgins, then there is a chance he might go to the Sydney Cup next month, but if we think that he’s not ready for another big race, then we’ll pull the pin, send him to the paddock, and get him ready for the Melbourne Cup.

“His jump-out on Tuesday was the same as how he jumped out before he won the Torney Cup. We’re rapt and couldn’t be happier.”