Trent Busuttin has developed an affinity for winning Derbies and he’d love nothing more than to add the G1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) to his collection with Thedoctoroflove at Ellerslie on Saturday (8 March).
The New Zealand Derby has special significance for Busuttin and his co-trainer and partner Natalie Young as both hail from New Zealand and are now domiciled in Australia, where they train from Cranbourne in Victoria.
They will be attempting to become the first Australian-based trainers to win the New Zealand Derby.
The couple decided to send Thedoctoroflove to New Zealand for the Derby after he won at Flemington on 11 January over 2000m.
He then finished sixth in a Benchmark 78 at Sandown behind older horses before he headed to New Zealand where he won the G2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) on 22 February at Ellerslie.
Busuttin said there was something special in preparing horses to win a Derby and it was something he had inherited from his father Paddy, who trained Castletown to win the 1989 New Zealand Derby.
“We like the Derbies,” Busuttin said. “In addition to the New Zealand Derby, Dad won the Macau Derby and the Singapore Derby. We’ve won a Victoria Derby and an Australian Derby and it would be great to add another one.”
Trent Busuttin finished second in the 2017 edition of the New Zealand Derby with Rising Red who was beaten by Gingernuts.
Busuttin said the son of So You Think had continued to work well under the supervision of their travelling foreman Brendan Hawtin.
“He’s equal favourite for the race. He’s drawn 12 out of 16 which isn’t ideal but it could be worse,” Busuttin said.
Melbourne jockey Daniel Moor, who rode Thedoctoroflove in the Avondale Guineas, will again ride him.
Moor was impressed by Thedoctoroflove’s win last month but he said he will be better for the experience as it was his first run the right-handed way of going.
“He showed me he could race closer, which is very handy, as he began so well but didn’t really go right-handed,” Moor said. “Around every bend he was all over the place. He took a bit of riding and will benefit from that experience.
“He is a pretty cool customer although he was a little on edge, but he raced forward and was impressive at the end.”
The Avondale Guineas has proven to be a great form reference for the New Zealand Derby with seven of its past 13 winners completing the double at their next starts.
The horses which have completed this feat are Orchestral (2024), Rocket Spade (2021), Gingernuts (2017), Rangipo (2016), Mongolian Khan (2015), Puccini (2014) and Silent Achiever (2012).
The raiders certainly won’t have it all their own way with plenty of opposition expected from the locals, headed by Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray trained-Tuxedo, who comes off a last start victory in the G2 Waikato Guineas (2000m).
It’s not the traditional lead-up to the Derby.
“It’s getting harder to find the negatives around him, I suppose if you’re being picky then the traditional lead-up would have been the Avondale Guineas,” Ritchie said. “We felt he was fit enough and didn’t need it, and I gave John Bary a call and he did the same thing with Jimmy Choux (2011 winner).
“It’s not like it’s not doable, I understand it’s against normal things, but we felt he didn’t need another run on a hard track at Ellerslie two weeks before the Derby when he’d already excelled in the Waikato Guineas.”
Ritchie said he believes Tuxedo has the best turn of foot in the race, but is stepping up to 2400m for the first time and admit it’s always a query.
He said Thedoctoroflove and the highly fancied Bourbon Proof would almost certainly run out the 2400m.
