Lindsay Park co-trainer David Hayes will set French import Pilote D’Essai for the Group 1 $1.5m Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington during the 2017 Melbourne Autumn Carnival after winning the Pakenham Cup last Saturday.

Apprentice Regan Bayliss, above, scored back to back wins on Pilote D’Essai when he won the Pakenham Cup at Pakenham. Photo by Adrienne Bicknell.

The Listed $200,000 Superior Food Services Pakenham Cup (2500m) at Pakenham was Pilote D’Essai’s second successive Victorian Cup win after the five year old led all of the way to win the Listed $300,000 Ballarat Cup (2200m) at Ballarat a fortnight earlier.

Apprentice Regan Bayliss has been in the saddle for both wins and he tried to repeat his front running tactics in the Pakenham Cup after Pilote D’Essia burst out of the barriers to gain the lead easily running out of the straight the first time.

But after Bayliss slowed the tempo along the back of the track, Stephen Baster let the hard pulling Puccini circle the field at 1200m and take up the running with Katelyn Mallyon on Little White Cloud also moving up outside of Pilote D’Essai which ended up giving the imported stayer a perfect trail in the run to the home turn.

When heads were turned for home Bayliss let Pilote D’Essai ($5) take the run inside of Puccini ($9) and quickly skipped away to record a two and a quarter lengths win with Little White Cloud (3.70 favourite) holding onto third position a further one and three quarter lengths away.

Hayes said that the step up to the 2200m of the Ballarat Cup and then the 2500m of the Pakenham Cup has been what Pilote D’Essai had needed to produce his best form but he still thinks he will be proficient at the 2000m of the Australian Cup.

“I really feel we’ve found the key – it’s 2000m and beyond,” said Hayes who trains in partnership with his son Ben and nephew Tom Dabernig.

“He’s a bloody nice horse. It was pretty impressive today, wasn’t it?”

“He’ll be a very reliable horse 2000m and beyond. Probably in the spring, we were running him a bit short. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing.”

“We can give him a month in the water walker and the paddock now, and set him for the Australian Cup and Peter Young [Stakes].”

The well fancied Swacadelic ($4) was given a beautiful run by Craig Williams just off the pace but faded in the straight to finish a distance last and was reported to have pulled up lame in his left fron as well as with atrial fibrillation.

Pakenham Cup Results