Tony Gollan has plotted a path to spring racing action for his rising star Antino, who boasts a race record of eight wins from his nine career starts.
Seven of those wins were achieved in his four-year-old season as the now five-year-son of Redwood moved effortlessly from a Class 1 victory to his dominant success in the Listed Wayne Wilson during the carnival in which he rattled home, untroubled, to win by an impressive three length margin.
“At this point in time he has a path towards the Toorak (a $1 million Group 1 race to be held at Caulfield on October 14).
“He runs at Flemington on September 16, I think it is … a Listed 1400m race … and he then goes to Sandown a couple of weeks later for a race which is a nice lead-up to the Toorak … a Group 3, 1500m … and the Toorak is two weeks later.
“That’s basically it racing-wise … that’s our plan if everything goes well … just three runs with the Toorak third-up.
“Before that he will have a jump-out here on the August 15 … a barrier trail on the twenty-ninth. Then we’ll make our way to Melbourne with him.
“We get to go down there in the right grade kicking off at Listed level. We are not going straight to a Group 1 … so it is the right starting point for horse, trainer and jockey, and hopefully he can get the job done for us.
“Jimmy Orman, who had been aboard Antino in every start, has been booked to ride him at Flemington, and we’ll work our way from there” continued Gollan.
“Jimmy’s obviously riding very well. He knows what that horse can do and he has got a good relationship with him. He is the sort of rider I’m comfortable to take anywhere and have on them. He’s a good rider wherever he goes.”
Gollan is the third trainer Antino has had in his career.
The horse started out with Mark Schmetzer in Scone where he had two trials (in August and September 2021). He then transferred to Adam Campton where he had a further two trials before scoring a facile debut win for Campton on March 22, 2022.
Antino then relocated to the Golan stable, where he began with his seemingly mandatory two trials before launching with meaning into his career, so far winning seven out of eight races for Gollan, with his only defeat coming at the hands of his stable companion Tick Tock Queen, a $71 upset winner, in The Gateway.
Antino has won from 1200m to 1615m and he will looking to add to his unbeaten sequence of five straight wins when he faces the starter at Flemington first-up … and it might be worth noting that Antino is undefeated first-up with that statistic showing three wins from three starts.
