The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young stable will chase a second win the Victoria Derby following the win of Arcora at Flemington.
Arcora took out the Byerley Handicap (1800m) on Saturday to earn a ballot exemption into the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington on November 1.
Busuttin and Young took out the Derby when training in New Zealand with Sangster in 2011 while Arcora’s win was the second time the stable has won the Byerley Handicap.
Sunsource took out the Derby qualifier in 2023 but did not make it the Derby later in the year.
Sent out the $4.20 betting sites favourite under John Allen, Arcora scored a long head victory over Bayou Music ($5) with Arabian Prince ($8.50) a short-half-head away third.
Busuttin and Young’s racing manager Sam Griggs said the Derby was spoken about soon after Arcora ran second over 1420m at Flemington on June 21.
“Off his first-up run over 1400 metres, I said to Trent and Natalie that there is our Derby horse,” Griggs said.
“He’s got so much improvement ahead of him. He’s got the job done today. It’s nice to tick the box and it will do him the world of good to get his head down in front.
“He’s been going close and got the killer blow today.”
Arcora sat outside the leader and Allen was given the instructions of not going too early on the colt.
“It was about as close as we wanted him to be, but two-year-olds stepping up to that trip there was never going to be any tempo,” Griggs said.
“Knowing the horse, you can’t lead on him as he floats, and I think he had more to give there, and he was holding them well enough on the line.”
Griggs said how Arcora made his way to the Derby would be left to Busuttin and Young.
“Trent and Natalie are good at getting middle distance three-year-olds up to that trip and he will follow that familiar path,” Griggs said.
“There’s lots of nice 2000-metre races coming up in September and October, the UCI (at Flemington), the Caulfield lead-ups, but we’ll just plot a course that suits him best.
“We’ll get him here on Derby Day and he’ll make his presence felt.”
