Michael Hickmott has his sights on a hometown win in next month’s Murray Bridge Gold Cup with in-form mare Alpine Flyer who chases a third successive win at Morphettville on Saturday.

The Wolf Blass-owned Alpine Flyer was a good winner first-up at Murray Bridge before scoring a soft win on the Parks last time when she scored a 1.2 length win over Cool Magnum with Kelsey Hannan in the saddle.

"I'm very happy with her,'' Michael Hickmott said on RadioTAB.

"She's progressing well this preparation. I threw around the idea of going to the Balaklava Cup with her, but we'll target the Murray Bridge Cup with her and hopefully tomorrow is another steppingstone towards that,'' he said.

Hickmott also has Lord Vladivostok first-up in the race, who hasn't won since claiming the 2021 R A Lee Stakes at Morphettville and was narrowly beaten in the Murray Bridge Cup last year.

"He's the most unlucky little horse,'' Hickmott said.

"He should have won the City Of Adelaide last prep, he probably should have won the Murray Bridge Cup last year, he definitely should have won at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day last year.

"He's a horse who hasn't won for a couple of years, his end game is that race again at Flemington on Cup Day, the 1800m Plate and we'll go via the Murray Bridge Cup there,'' he said.

Hickmott confirmed New Zealand apprentice Kelsey Hannan looks poised to stay in South Australian following a brilliant start to her Australian riding career.

"It's always good to try to find emerging talent,'' Hickmott said.

"I've got a stable which is very profitable with using apprentices, I'm a big believer in giving people a go.

"I think she's made the decision that she'd like to stay here. She was shocked about the support she was going to get given from our stable let alone the rest of the state.

"We've got a really good environment. She's melted in really well and I think it will work out good for her. When she got her first remittance slip from Racing SA and that said how much she earnt for the week, that may have swayed the situation a bit as well,'' he said.

Hickmott said stable rider Jess Eaton was coming along well from a back L3 fracture in her back sustained in a Murray Bridge jump-out back in July and is hoping to be back in the saddle in October.

"She's on the road to recovery,'' Hickmott said.