Trent Busuttin to aim Muramasa at Geelong Cup after Caulfield Cup scratching
A tough decision to scratch Muramasa from the $5m Caulfield Cup last week could lead to a win in Wednesday’s Geelong Cup instead.
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A difficult concession could lead to a rich result in Wednesday’s $500,000 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup (2400m).
Muramasa’s trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young had a tough choice when heavy rain fell in the lead-up to last Saturday’s Caulfield Cup.
Busuttin said the heavy ground on race morning prompted the camp to sacrifice a crack at a $5m race in favour of the Geelong Cup.
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“He’s simply not effective on it (heavy ground),” Busuttin said.
“I said to the owners, ‘we’ve paid the acceptance but the reality was he’ll run nowhere so let’s bite the bullet’.
“It looks like we’re going to get a reasonable track on Wednesday and he’s got a reasonable draw (barrier eight).”
Muramasa was one of the big improvers of last spring, progressing from a Benchmark 78 win at Flemington to Group 3 successes at his next two starts.
Winning the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington qualified Muramasa for a Melbourne Cup start.
Muramasa is 25th in the Melbourne Cup order of entry, making him almost assured of a Melbourne Cup start as contenders above him fall by the wayside.
Busuttin said the son of the late Japanese legend Deep Impact needed to perform strongly in the Geelong Cup to be considered a Melbourne Cup chance.
“He needs to run well to justify going to the Melbourne Cup and I can’t see him not running well,” Busuttin said.
“He probably needs to be winning the Geelong Cup to think he’s going to be a winning chance in a Melbourne Cup.
“But he’s by Deep Impact and getting out to two miles in the Melbourne Cup, I’m looking forward to it.”
Muramasa is a $6 chance in Ladbrokes’ Geelong Cup market in which the Chris Waller-trained Unusual Legacy is the $3.70 favourite after opening at $6.
Imported galloper Birdman is a $4.60 chance to win the Geelong Cup at his Australian debut.
Originally published as Trent Busuttin to aim Muramasa at Geelong Cup after Caulfield Cup scratching
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