Bring on Cambridge. And the Harness Jewels.
That’s the thinking of Kyle ‘Jock’ Austin following the victory of his star three-year-old Buster Brady in the Sires’ Stakes Sophomore Classic.
And there were plenty of people walking around a rather damp Addington Raceway this afternoon thinking along the same lines.
The big pacer, who hadn’t been seen at the races since running 8th behind Lazarus in the New Zealand Derby, showed all his impressive qualities to hold of all challenges and win the second running of the $40,000 event.
And Austin knows he’ll take a better horse to Cambridge in a few weeks for the wide open 3YO Emerald.
“He will improve a lot with that run, I’m sure of it.
“He’d had the trial to get ready for this, but a race under his belt will really bring him forward again.”
That alone will have to bring the horse into contention for Jewels glory.
Without Lazarus and Waikiki Beach the category is anyone’s for the taking.
Rated an $8 chance to win the Group One event, Buster Brady showed his versatility today by going back at the start and looping the field with a lap to run for Dexter Dunn.
“He’s still got a lot to learn, but there’s a heap of ability there,” Dunn said.
“He just feels like a really good horse. Those others came up to him and he just kept giving in the run to the line.
“There’s a big future ahead for him.”
The win was massive for Austin and the biggest of his career. He only trains a small team of horses at any given time but is renowned for taking horses to the races who are ready to win.
A son of Real Desire and Kacie Marie who Austin trained to win one race in 14 starts, Buster Brady has now won four of his 8 career starts.
“At this stage he won’t be seen again until Jewels Day, he was actually supposed to be heading up in the next few days but they’ve cancelled the trip because of the weather so I’m not sure when we are going to get up there.”
There was a slight amount of irony in the result with Buster Brady’s regular driver, Blair Orange going down by a small margin with his charge Swamp Major who led and then trailed the winner.
Major Ben emerged late from the pack to finish in third position with stable mate GI Joe in fourth.
Classie Brigade was beaten into fifth position after blowing out 100 metres from the post.
He will derive plenty of benefit from the run looking ahead to Cambridge.
Buster Brady
Matt Markham