Luke Nolen has replaced Daniel Stackhouse on the favourite in the opening race at Flemington after Stackhouse failed in an appeal against a suspension.

Stackhouse was to ride the Peter Moody-trained two-year-old El Greco in Saturday's Eugene Gorman Handicap (1400m) but was suspended for careless riding at Pakenham on Tuesday.

He failed in an appeal to the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board on Friday.

The Moody stable also had Ngarimu, an unraced colt out of Group One sprinting mare Glamour Puss, in the same race at Flemington but he has been scratched leaving Nolen free to ride El Greco.

A maiden winner at Kilmore on debut, El Greco subsequently finished second in the Elvstroem Classic at Swan Hill to stakes winner Prince Of Brooklyn.