Lamasery won the Group 3 Colin Stephen Handicap over 2400m last start

Trainer David Vandyke proved his critics wrong when Lamasery defied his breeding to win the 2,400 metre Group 3 Colin Stephen Handicapat Rosehill last weekend.

“There were a few question marks on Saturday and it’s great that he could answer them with a big yes,” Vandyke said.

The trainer was impressed with the ride from jockey Brenton Avdulla, who will be aboard Lamasery once again in the $500,000 The Metropolitan this Saturday.

“He’s put in two rides and they’ve both been ten out of ten,” Vandyke said.

“The horse wanted to go and he just let him slide a bit and got one out one back.”

Vandyke said that while Lamasery wasn’t 100 per cent just yet, he expected the five-year-old to recover in time for this Saturday’s race.

“He left a bit of feed last Saturday night and I won’t run him in The Metropolitan this Saturday if I’m not happy,” he said.

“(But) he historically is a horse that does bounce back quickly.”

However, Lamasery’s appearance in The Metropolitan will come down to the track conditions on the day.

“If the track is a slow or heavy he won’t be running,” Vandyke said.

“If the forecast is right we might be looking at a slow track but they forecast a lot of rain last week and it didn’t come.

“I’ve also nominated him for the Bart Cummings at Flemington (on Sunday October 2).

“If we don’t go to either of them we’ll go to the Herbert Power (Stakes) the weekend after.”

Lamasery has now won nine of his 15 race starts and has accrued more than $300,000 in prize money.

The Commands gelding is nominated for both the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup later in the spring carnival.