The Tony Gollan trained Group 1 winner Antino will fly the Queensland flag when he resumes in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes over 1400m at Randwick on Saturday.
Apart from Antino’s last start result when on an international mission in Hong Kong back in December … you can simply draw a line through that luckless, interference plagued run which Gollan termed ‘a disaster’ … the six-year-old son of Redwood has been exemplary in his five other starts this season.
Antino did the stable proud in those five runs … four of which were in Group 1 company … highlighted by a well-deserved win in the Toorak Handicap and soundly supplemented by a runner-up finish to Mr Brightside in the Group 1 Championship Mile/Cantala Stakes (when beating Fangirl home), a third place in the Group 1 Makybe Diva (behind Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni) , a third place in the Group 2 Feehan (behind Pride Of Jenni and Mr Brightside) and, initially, a fourth place in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes when resuming after a two month break from racing.
Mr Brightside is a nineteen-time winner with over $17 million banked in prise-money while Pride of Jenni is a nine-time winner with a current prize-money haul of $10 million, so, Antino has been mixing it with big names and trading punch for punch with them without flinching.
Underlining that point is the fact that when beaten by 2.25 lengths by Pride Of Jenni in the Feehan, Antino carried 2kg more than the mare … and when beaten by Mr Brightside in the Cantala Stakes by only 0.46 lengths, these two runners met at level weights.
Credentials don’t come much stronger than that.
But now a new campaign awaits with Antino once again kicking off over 1400m as he did in Memsie in his last campaign.
“Yeah, that’s the best distance to start him off. That’s why he is there,” said Gollan.
“He is just not sharp enough for the shorter trips. As we saw last Winter, he started off in the Memsie over 1400m and he went on to have a really good Spring so obviously this is a good lead-up run for us.
“Low draw, but he is going to be in the back half of the field. We know how he begins this horse. He is a horse that wants to find his feet and run on.
“He is a quality horse. I just want to see a really positive first-up run … running solid through the line … and then bring him back fir the Brisbane Winter.
“We’ll see what the weekend brings and how the travel affects him, but the plan is to come back for the Hollindale (over 1800m at the Gold Coast on May 10). That’s the plan we have had in place … from the All Aged to the Hollindale and then maybe the Doomben Cup (over 2000m on May 24).
‘I’m really keen to try him over further now. He is such a relaxed horse.
“If I never give him a decent preparation to try him out over a mile … if I hadn’t done that when he’s finished his career, I’ll be very disappointed in myself.
And, for this run at least, Antino will have a change of jockey after Blake Shinn, who had ridden Antino in four of his last five starts, picked up a suspension last Saturday.
Mark Zahra is pretty much a ready-made replacement though having already ridden Antino in that Champions Mile second placing two runs back.
“Blake rang me last Saturday night after he was suspended. He was as disappointed as anyone not to be riding him,” said Gollan.
“It was good that Mark was able to manage things around to get on him. He rode him in the Champions Mile.”
Antino is currently a $16 chance for the All Aged Stakes where the betting market is headed by the T J Smith winner Briasa ($3.80) with only three other horses … Jimmysstar, Broadsiding and Joliestar quoted in single figure odds.
