But Apulia is no slouch and as a two-year-old ran second to Veight in the VRC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m), while last spring he was nosed out by Guineas favourite Riff Rocket in the Victoria Derby (2500m).
J D Hayes said the stable was looking longer term with Apulia.
"He's got a lot of improvement to come after this first-up run at the mile. He'll most likely get back and hit the line and as long as he does that, we'll be happy"
Apulia had a delayed start to his autumn campaign, but following a third Flemington jump-out his preparation is now back on track.
"We almost had him ready to go in the C S Hayes (two weeks ago), but we decided that another jump-out would be better for him," Hayes said.
"He didn't recover from his trial before that race as well as we would have liked.
"He did have a big spring when he was on the back-up, back-up, back-up, so we had a think about it all and decided to put a bit of an extra base on him at the trials which we felt was the best thing for the horse."
Hayes said Saturday's return would determine the path Apulia takes.
"It will be run by run as it was a pretty big spring, so he can tell us."
