Avilius a Cups prospect on strength of Kingston Town win

The promise shown by the imported galloper Avilius in his first two Australian starts is looking like genuine star quality following his brilliant win in Saturday’s G3 Kingston Town Stakes at Randwick.

Avilius has now won three-from-three in his new home and has improved with each race.

Trainer James Cummings has the G1 Caulfield Cup as Avilius’s main spring mission, and the race, in which he is handicapped on 53kg, is shaping as an attractive proposition.

“He won today in the style of a very impressive horse,” Cummings said.

“His finishing speed was outstanding, he’s shown us that he’s a good horse in his first two runs and looked to go to a new level today.”

Avilius came to Australia with good French form which he appears to have surpassed as he has stepped up in distance to Saturday’s 2000m trip.

Cummings is looking to the G1 Metropolitan Hcp at Randwick next month as a possible lead-up to the Caulfield Cup, but may choose the G3 Bart Cummings, named in honour of his grandfather, at Flemington on 6 October.

“The Bart Cummings is looking like a good lead-in to the Cups, we’ll assess everything over the next week or so.”

Winning rider Glyn Schofield was full of praise for a horse he said had declared himself as a major contender on Saturday.

"He has announced his arrival in the country with a good start to his career and today was another feather in his cap," Schofield said.

"He was a fair way back in the run, but it was run pretty solidly and I was fortunate enough to get him to the outside and allow him to use that speed that he has got.

"It's very nice to see him on a dry track with a testing tempo that he still had that turn of speed. It was a good all-round performance."