“Now that we’ve won the race,” said assistant trainer Shae Dinunzio, “the whole spring campaign is a bit more relaxed. We can plan back from the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup … work out when we need to have him back in to work, what races to target, and make sure he’s peaking on those two days.”

Stokes, who has trained multiple elite performers, knows exactly how
special this opportunity is. “We’ve always known what the Melbourne Cup’s about,” he said. “To be there, and to have a runner in the race, it’s a great honour. I was always confident he was good enough to find his own way there, but now we’re in. And that makes life easier.”

Henderson has experienced both sides of the Melbourne Cup – utter joy with a win with Doriemus in 1995, then heartache in 2008 when Bauer lost to Viewed by the narrowest of margins. He also knows how rare these chances are.

“All those people have now got this dream alive for the next few months,” he said. “They’re on a magnificent path toward a great race.”

And with a ticket already in hand to Flemington’s biggest stage, the team behind Deakin can now simply fine-tune their prospect.

“It’s exciting for us,” Dinunzio added, “but you’ve got to get the job done too. Between now and November, it’s head down, bum up. Do the basics right to get the result you want.”

Another coveted golden ticket – and a direct path to the Lexus Melbourne Cup – will be claimed today, when the Lexus Andrew Ramsden (2800m) offers its winner a place in racing history.
But for Deakin and his team, the road has already begun.