The Standish Handicap offers ballot exemption into the most famous of Flemington straight six sprints, the Group 1 Yulong Newmarket Handicap (1200m), in which It'sourtime missed the start badly last year, failing to beat a runner home, but consideration could be given to another tilt at the top level.
"It's Danny's call. But you get a golden ticket, so it might be worth just having a crack and see if we can win it," Hicks said.
Billy Egan certainly earnt his riding fee on a hot day at Flemington to prevail in a tight finish as Aztec Ruler loomed up.
"I was half getting a little frustrated with him getting on the line because he gave me such a good ride. He went to a Harry's horse like a winner and then just the last couple of metres, that horse coming on my outside was starting to worry him out of it, and I was like, oh come on, you bastard, there's like 20 metres to go," Egan said
"Just dig deep for me because the other horse nearly had him worried out of it. So I had to ask a lot of him, and he responded enough, you've got to throw everything at him and it's good he got over the line."
