The prospect of a heavy track at Flemington has swayed Michael Kent Jnr to steer Bustling’s racing comeback tour to Sydney on Saturday.
The former Perth galloper is third-up this time in after a time away that spanned more than 18 months away from the racetrack.
Now a four-year-old, Bustling was entered for a comparable race at Flemington over 1100-metres but will instead take on the Cactus Imaging Handicap (1200m) at Randwick where, at $4, the lightly raced gelding sits on the second line of betting behind the Bjorn Baker-trained Amazing Eagle according to leading Aussie betting sites.
“We made the decision after I spoke to (track manager) Liam O’Keefe at Flemington and they are expecting a Heavy 8 and then I spoke to Mike Woods at the ATC and they are expecting a Soft 5 or maybe a touch better at Randwick,” Kent Jnr said.
“He’s a Perth horse and he wants to get on top of the ground. All our feedback from whether it was Mark Zahra at the trials or Craig Williams last start is that he is better on top of the ground.”
After finishing out of the placings in the Group 2 Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill in September 2024, his next start at Caulfield on May 9 followed by finishing second in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes (1100m) on heavy going three weeks later.
Drawing on the success of other horses who have had long layoffs, a fatter Bustling had been the challenge for Kent Jnr and co-trainer Mick Price to get the winner of four races in eight starts going again.
“We’re very happy with the horse and he’s had a perfect preparation,” Kent Jnr added.
“We were working off two years of fat and he’s a big, impressive sprinting type now and has been making natural improvement in his races.
“He never had any major injury but more so it was frustrating that every time we would bring him in, a different minor wheel would fall off so he had to go back out again. He just got out of shape but he this time has been 100% sound the whole way through.
“I’m looking at horses like Jigsaw and Giga Kick who had similar long layoffs and they’ve come back and performed at a very high level.”
Further north, the stable has Naifah engaged in the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic (1200m) at Ipswich after finishing fifth in the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm also on May 30.
Naifah is rated a $7 chance in the final race at Ipswich on Saturday according to popular betting apps Australia, having drawn barrier 14 which comes into 12 after scratchings.
“It was a pretty decent listed race last time, a strong race,” Kent Jnr said.
“If you could bet in the run and you could imagine that she gets across into a good spot from that awkward gate, and down with the 53.5 kilos, she’s quite well in.”
