There’s been a lot of talk over the past month or so regarding the depth of talent in terms of stayers in Australia.

Much was made about the lack of Australian bred representation in the Melbourne Cup or indeed any of the top level long distance tests over the spring.

In the midst of all the doom and gloom it would be easy to skip over the efforts of one very promising stayer, lamasery, and he’s 100 percent Aussie.

Lamasery began the spring running in a 1500m race at Rosehill finishing fourth.

After that he stepped up the 2000m of the Kingston Town stakes and his true ability shone through as he stormed home from near last to win the race.

He made it back to back wins after that with enough gutsy performance to win the Colin Stephen Handicap, that time over 2400m.

He stayed at the same trip for the Group 1 Metropolitan, that time finishing third after settling closer to the pace.

He had a month off since then before returning over 1800m at Flemington and it was another convincing win by a five year old which now boasts 10 wins from 17 starts.

This Saturday though it’s his biggest test yet when he jumps to 2400m again against some of the best in the business.

While he Amy only have four rivals in the 2011 Zipping Classic every one of them was in the Melbourne Cup field.

To be fair Mourayan was scratched that morning and Saptapadi finished a long way back however with Americain and Manighar heading the charge Lamasery is up against it this Saturday at Sandown.

This type of race has been a long time coming as well as Lamasery has had a series of issues keeping him out of both the Caulfield Cup and Bendigo Cup.

It’s a hugely important race for trainer David Vandyke who is thinking ahead to Group 1 level in the autumn.

“The Eclipse wouldn’t really tell me anything. This way I can get a guide as to whether he is up to a race like The BMW in the autumn,” Vandyke said.

Vandyke says he fancies his chances in a race where he is rising in distance off a freshen up compared to others that are dropping their journey after already running their spring grand final.