Adelaide Cup winner Daqiansweet Junior is going too well to defend his Morphettville crown and will instead be aimed at the Group 1 Sydney Cup, according to trainer Phillip Stokes.

The OTI Racing-owned stayer will return to the track in Saturday’s G3 Carlyon Cup (1600m) and, while a first-up tilt at the mile might not look a winning recipe, Stokes is bullish about his prospects of adding another feature staying race to his CV in the coming weeks.

The gelding has jumped out twice in preparation for his return, including a head-turning gallop over 1200m at Pakenham to finish on the heels of Stakes-performed stablemate Climbing Star.

“I think he’s probably going better than an Adelaide Cup so he’s going to be aimed up at the Sydney Cup,” Stokes said.

“He resumes on Saturday, then he goes to the Australian Cup and then it’s four weeks into the Sydney Cup.”

Stokes said Daqiansweet Junior’s 2023 program will revolve around another tilt at the Melbourne Cup, in which he ran a gallant sixth behind Gold Trip last spring.

“He’s more seasoned now and he’s coming into his own,” he said.

“His rating is right up there now so he probably gets a run in it (Melbourne Cup), so it’s all about trying to get back there again.

“Now we’ve had a taste for it and he ran well, we’d love to try to go a few better.”