Trent Busuttin has Australian Cup hopes for Carlyon Cup favourite Foxy Cleopatra
Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young have put aside Foxy Cleopatra’s last-start flop to prepare for an Australian Cup tilt via Saturday’s Carlyon Cup at Caulfield.
Horse Racing
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Things punters should forget can also be learning experiences for trainers.
TS Carlyon Cup contender Foxy Cleopatra’s last start is one of those things.
Foxy Cleopatra failed dismally when well in the betting in the $500,000 Ballarat Cup last December, finishing more than 18 lengths from the winner Captain Envious.
Punters can forget that outing but the disappointment influenced trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young’s autumn plans with the lightly-raced mare.
“We basically learned she’s not effective on bottomless tracks,” Busuttin said.
“But she took no ill-effects from the run because Craig basically stood up on her from the half-mile.
“If you’re going to Sydney in the autumn, you’re probably going to get heavy tracks.
“While that was extremely heavy at Ballarat, we can now form a campaign not thinking she’s going to be running on Heavy 10 tracks in Sydney if that’s what they are.”
Busuttin and Young would like to get Foxy Cleopatra to next month’s Group 1 Australian Cup at Flemington, which is rarely run on wet tracks.
However, Busuttin said Foxy Cleopatra needed to earn a shot at such a rich race in lead-up races like the $200,000 TS Carlyon Cup.
“Pie in the sky stuff, we’d love to run in the Australian Cup, but she’s got to improve,” Busuttin said.
“I’ve never made any secret of the fact she’s a good horse but she still has to do it. But I think she will.
“The Australian Cup might be a good race for her.”
Foxy Cleopatra is a $2.90 favourite in TAB’s early betting on the Carlyon Cup, which features a small field of seven runners.
Foxy Cleopatra has drawn barrier one, which concerned Busuttin, but he was happy to leave things in jockey Blake Shinn’s hands at Caulfield.
“Barrier one isn’t ideal, to be honest, I don’t think there’s any speed in the race whatsoever,” he said.
“Being third on the fence is probably the last place you want to be.
“I know the horse is going very well and I think she will be hard to beat.”
Originally published as Trent Busuttin has Australian Cup hopes for Carlyon Cup favourite Foxy Cleopatra
Comeback hoop recalls scary moment that nearly paralysed him
Grant Buckley will have his first ride back almost eight months after a horse flipped on him, and reveals how close he came to being unable to walk again.
Blossoming mare after more stakes success in Rubiton
It took 37 starts for South Australian mare Prairie Flower to claim a first stakes win and her trainers are optimistic she can secure another in the Group 2 Rubiton Stakes at Caulfield.