Fresh from dominating their hometown Cup program, Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young have readjusted their sights across town to Ballarat’s biggest day of the year.
The Cranbourne partners, who won three races including the $500,000 Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m) with Uncle Bryn, have seven horses nominated across six races including Cranbourne Cup fifth placegetter Flash Aah in the $500,000 Ballarat Cup.
But it is one of the support races that could prove the stepping stone to even bigger riches.
Busuttin and Young have two runners, Sunsource and Amantine, engaged in the $250,000 Magic Millions Ballarat 2YO Classic.
The 1000m event has been a part of the Ballarat Cup Day card since 2012 but was run in the clockwise direction until 2020 as a means of giving Victorian-trained horses a chance to race right-handed without having to travel.
Busuttin and Young team won last year’s inaugural anti-clockwise edition with Cusack and prefer the current set up.
“The concept was good but I don’t think the track allowed it to be what they would have liked it to be,” Busuttin said.
“You’ve got your chance to go up there (Queensland), you’ve got opportunities to trial up there and race that way, so it’s not the be-all and end-all having it anti-clockwise.”
Amantine is a filly by Written Tycoon who cost $50,000 at this year’s Gold Coast Yearling Sale and will be eligible for the $500,000 Women’s Racing bonus if she gets to the $2.5 million feature two-year-old race on January 14, while Sunsource cost $370,000 at the same sale.
The Widden Stud sold colt, who sports the Ozzie Kheir colours, is by Zoustar out of the Sebring mare Patricia Dawn and Busuttin said he is being given the chance to prove himself worthy of a trip noth.
‘He’ll go there and he’ll run well, I’m sure, and if he can win then you’d have a look at the big one up on the Gold Coast,” Busuttin said.
“He’s a nice professional horse who seems to do everything right.”
Cusack is among the Busuttin/Young team’s Ballarat nominations, entered for both the Magic Millions Ballarat 3&4YO Classic (1100m) and the 1100m BM70 Handicap, as has Commands The Field.
British import Spanish Kiss has been entered for the McKellar Mile, while He’s Our Bonneval is among the nominations for the BM84 Handicap.