Port Philip has come a long way in a short time and will chase a Caulfield Cup start when he heads to the Mornington Cup on Saturday.

The seaside town of Mornington sits on Port Philip Bay and Port Phillip, the racehorse, is showing himself to be a handy stayer.

A former member of the Lloyd and Nick Williams team, Port Philip has been with Julius Sandhu since the middle of last year, notching five wins.

A sixth win, if that happened to be in Saturday’s Listed Mornington Cup (2400m), would provide Port Philip with a ballot exemption into the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) in October.

Port Philip strung together four wins on end last campaign on wet tracks, including victories at Flemington and Caulfield, before running second to Melbourne Cup placegetter High Emocean in the Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) last October.

Returning for an autumn campaign. Port Philip finished last in the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on March 4 before taking out the Yarra Valley Cup (1950m) 15 days later.

Sandhu had planned another run for Port Philip, the Group 3 Easter Cup (2100m) at Sandown on April 8, but the trainer was not 100% happy with the stayer leading up to that race.

“He had a bit of mucus, so I didn’t want to take the chance of running him, so I put him on some treatment to make sure he came through that good, which he did,” Sandhu told RSN927.

“We’ve brought him back to where I want him to be now and I’m happy with how he’s going to be going into this race.”

Sandhu said he was pleased with Port Philip’s gallop at Cranbourne on Tuesday and said the gelding would head into Saturday’s race in great shape.

“Whether or not the race we missed out on will tell a little bit, from a fitness point of view, we’ll find out,” Sandhu said.

“But I’ve got him in the best shape I can getting him into the Cup, so hopefully that’s good enough.”