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The Godolphin stable locked down one Villiers Stakes berth when the import Interlocuter won last Sunday’s Goulburn Cup and will give two more of the team their chance to join him when they clash at Rosehill on Saturday.

The Godolphin stablemates Duca Valentinois and Spectroscope face their trials for a start in the G2 Villiers (1600m) at Randwick on December 15 in Saturday’s $160,000 Festival Stakes (1500m).

Interlocuter, third in last year’s Villiers, gave the Godolphin stable its first win in the $150,000 Goulburn Cup (1600m) when he took advantage of a clever rails hugging ride from Christian Reith.

Reith’s adopted positive tactics to track the leader Fabrizio from the start and his decision to stick to the rails on the home turn made the difference in a driving finish.

Fabrizio left the fence at the top of the straight and the ground Reith saved when Interlocuter railed through without having to go around other horse enabled the James Cummings-trained gelding to grab a narrow advantage that he held to the line.

Fabrizio, carrying the topweight of 61.5kg and conceding 4.5kg to Interlocuter, was coming again in the last 50 metres but failed by only a neck to peg back the winner.

The Kris Lees-trained Articus, having his first start for 35 days, was a close third place after looming as the winner at the 200m, adding to the worth of the Goulburn Cup as a solid guide to this year’s Villiers.

The Godolphin focus now shifts to the Festival Stakes with Duca Valentinois and Spectroscope, like Interlocuter both northern hemisphere-bred imports, among the 11 entries for the Group 3 event.

Duca Valentinois returns to Sydney from a three start Melbourne carnival campaign where his best performance saw him finish third in the G2 Crystal Mile (1600m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day.

The Irish-bred seven-year-old then finished seventh, beaten five lengths behind Kaonic over 1800m at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day when he struggled on a soft surface.

Duca Valentinois has won five races since he landed in Australia in 2015 including the 2017 Scone Cup and G3 Lord Mayor’s Cup at Doomben in May.

Lightly-raced US-bred six-year-old Spectroscope has had only 22 starts for four wins including two in Sydney since he arrived in 2016 from France.

Notably both his local wins have been recorded at Rosehill including the G3 Doncaster Prelude over 1500m on a heavy track in 2017.

Spectroscope had his first start since June when third on a soft track over 1400m at Randwick on October 27 then performed soundly in the G3 Chatham Stakes (1400m) won by Dreamforce at Flemington on November 10 when beaten only 2.25 lengths.

The heavy rain predicted for Sydney this week should leave the Rosehill track in an affected state for Saturday, conditions that will suit Spectroscope as he has won three times on soft and heavy surfaces..

The Festival Stakes has long served as a lead-up to the Villiers even though it was a rarity for many years for the same horse to win both races.

Castanea in 1965 was the only one to complete the double between 1948 and 2004 due largely to the Rosehill race being run over shorter distances suiting specialist sprinters.

From 1948 until 1982 The Festival was run over seven furlongs or 1400m before it was shortened to 1300m in 1983. It reverted to 1400m in 2001 and has become a more relevant Villiers guide since 2008 when the distance was increased to 1500m.

Over the last 15 years the double has been won three times by Ike's Dream (2004) and Utzon (2006) when the Festival was run over 1400m, and by Monton (2011) after it was increased to 1500m. I’m Imposing went close in 2014 when he won the Festival and finished second in the Villiers.

Congratulations on winning the 2018 Best Western Plus Goulburn Cup with Interlocuter pic.twitter.com/lp6BQiBNHv

— Goulburn Racing Club November 25, 2018