Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young have some tough decisions to make after the impressive win of Epimeles at Flemington.
A debut winner at Sandown last month, Epimeles took out the Listed Anzac Day Stakes (1400m) on Thursday, showing a touch of class.
The decision for Busuttin and Young now is do they put the son of Dundeel away for a break to concentrate on a spring campaign or do they travel to Brisbane for a light winter and then spell in the warmer climate.
Ridden by John Allen, Epimeles ($4.60) scored a 1-¾ length win from Narbold ($51) with Yaldi ($8) a neck away in third place.
Sam Griggs, the racing manager for the Busuttin and Young stable, said a decision on what the immediate future holds for Epimeles would be made following a discussion with the ownership group and trainers.
“You never make a decision on race day, but we think he will be a proper three-year-old and we’ll look forward to working that out with Mark Pilkington and the Seymour Bloodstock team as to what’s best for him and be guided by that,” Griggs said.
“First and foremost, he gets home tonight, eats up, and is a happy horse tomorrow, but you cannot be anything but excited by him.
“He could go up north. It has been in the back of our mind that a mile, like the J J Atkins, could be on the agenda, but we think we’ve got a spring three-year-old, so we’ll wait and see where it all plays out.
“He’s done a good job to get to where he has in a hurry.”
Griggs said the stable had earmarked the latter part of the autumn to commence the campaign of Epimeles and had Thursday race in the back of their minds before his debut success at Sandown.
He pointed out Thursday’s race had produced horses in previous years that had gone on to be springtime performers.
“I think you’ll find that most of the two-year-olds that train on at three are coming out at this time of the year, so we’re certainly happy with what we’ve got,” Griggs said.
