In any sport, a home-ground advantage is invaluable and Saturday’s Pakenham Cup meeting is as close to home as Phillip Stokes could possibly get.

The Pakenham track is almost literally a stone’s throw from the team’s stables, and Stokes is hoping local familiarity can reign supreme.

He might be an outsider in Sportsbet’s market at $27, but one of Stokes’ most interesting runners is Good Idea in the day’s feature race, the Pakenham Cup (2500m).

This year’s Adelaide Cup winner gets back to familiar surroundings after an eye-catching run at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day.

“His last run at Flemington was really good, he got held up but found the line good under a big weight,” said Stokes.

“We’ve just ticked him over towards this, trying to keep a turn of foot in him.

“He trialled really well at Moe and that sort of just tightened him up.”

Stokes says Good Idea will again be aimed at the G2 Adelaide Cup and believes Saturday’s feature will be an important guide.

“It’s a bit tricky this year ‘cos his rating’s gone up, and there’s only so many races you can run in going towards the Adelaide Cup, so we’re just using this as a tick-along race,” he said.

“I’d probably like it an extra 500m longer, I see they’ve got him at good odds, but I think he’ll run a nice race.”