Buffering will follow a weight-for-age path during the Brisbane winter carnival but trainer Robert Heathcote hasn’t ruled out another attempt at the Stradbroke Handicap.
Buffering was on Wednesday among 137 nominations for the Group One Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 8 which carries first prizemoney of $1 million for the inaugural time this year.
Heathcote said the Stradbroke was high on the agenda for Buffering but a start for the five-year-old would depend on how much weight he was given.
“If he happens to go `bang, bang’ and win the BTC Cup and Doomben 10,000, which we’re hoping for at his next two starts, then that will obviously impact on his Stradbroke weight,” Heathcote said.
“But it’s definitely a race we’d definitely love to run him in if everything goes to plan.”
Buffering finished a brave second to Mid Summer Music in last year’s Stradbroke when he carried topweight of 58kg.
Chris Waller has nominated seven horses for the Stradbroke including 2010 Doncaster Mile winner Rangirangdoo and much-improved mare Arinosa, a dominant winner of the Sapphire Stakes at Randwick at her latest appearance on April 13.
Last year’s Epsom Handicap winner Fat Al heads a team of seven horses nominated by Gai Waterhouse including recent acquisition Ashokan.
Peter Moody has nominated six horses including Group One winner Moment Of Change and Strawberry Boy who was formerly trained by Waterhouse.
Moody has also entered imported stayer My Quest For Peace who finished fifth in last year’s Caulfield Cup and 10th in the Melbourne Cup when trained by Luca Cumani.
Other high profile nominations include Group One winners Epaulette, Manawanui, Ortensia, Pear Tart, Sea Siren, Secret Admirer, Sizzling, Streama, Temple Of Boom, Yosei and the nine-year-old Sniper’s Bullet who won the Stradbroke as a three-year-old in 2007.
Last Saturday’s All Aged Stakes winner All Too Hard, who will head to Royal Ascot for the Queen Anne Stakes in June, was a surprise nomination for the Group One Doomben Cup (2000m) on May 18.
