Flemington's first meeting of the season back as a Cup pathway.

This won't be the first Aurie's Star Handicap Day that features horses being directed towards the Melbourne Cup.

Bart Cummings basically built the race that is now the Victoria Racing Club's first feature of the season, launching many a Spring campaign in it, including those of Melbourne Cup winners Hyperno and Rogan Josh.

A Melbourne Cup flavour returns to this Saturday's Aurie's Star meeting with Berkshire Breeze, the $17 equal third favourite for the Cup, to chase a fourth-straight win.

But the Ciaron Maher-trained import will be running over 2530 metres, not the 1200m of the Group 3 Aurie's Star Handicap.

It is a glaring example of the altered mindset towards Cups horses now compared with when Cummings' principals were the Melbourne Cup benchmark.

A Melbourne Cup winner has not come via the Aurie's Star since Rogan Josh in 1999 and in the past decade only Johnny Get Angry has even got the Melbourne Cup after contesting the Aurie's Star.

That's not to suggest Aurie's Star Day hasn't had an impact on Australia's biggest race of the year in that time.

Eight years ago Almandin won the Melbourne Cup after finishing last in a 2000m handicap on the Aurie's Star undercard.

Gone are the days of trainers starting their Cups horses over 1400m or shorter in the August and running every second week all the way through the Melbourne Cup.

Makybe Diva launched each of her Melbourne Cup campaigns over 1400m on Memsie Stakes Day with five of the next six locally-trained winners having done likewise.

But since 2016, only Verry Elleegant has resumed over 1400m in August.

Rekindling, Cross Counter and Twilight Payment were all raiders, Without A Fight resumed in the 1800m Underwood Stakes, Gold Trip kicked off in the 1500m Winter Challenge in Sydney, while Vow And Declare did not appear until the 2000m Turnbull Stakes.

Almandin's Aurie's Star Handicap Day run was his second of the preparation, which is the closest recent campaign to what Ciaron Maher is trying to pull off with Berkshire Breeze.

The grey gelding has run on the first Saturday of the month going right back to April, when he resumed with a second placing to stablemate Desperado over 2000m at Caulfield.

Saturday's $150,000 Inside Run Trophy will be Berkshire Breeze's final start before the Group 3 The Archer (2500m), which this year has moved from Derby Day to the Makybe Diva Stakes meeting on September 14.

Although run on a new day, The Archer still carries a ballot exemption, which some of Berkshire Breeze's rivals this weekend might also have their eyes on.

The calendar, and training methods, are changing and this latest tweak to the program could be what brings the VRC's first meeting of the season back to life as a Melbourne Cup pathway.

Bart would be proud.