New Zealand-bred star Antino put a frustrating spring campaign behind him with a superb first-up performance in Saturday’s A$300,000 Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm.
The son of Redwood appeared to have the world at his feet at around this time last year, winning eight of his first nine races including the Listed Wayne Wilson (1600m) at Eagle Farm in June.
But Antino’s raids on Melbourne and Sydney in the spring were plagued by bad luck.
He won the Group 3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) but had more than his share of excuses when finishing fourth in the Listed The Sofitel (1400m), second in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m), second in the Group 2 Crystal Mile (1600m) and outside the placings in the Five Diamonds (1800m) at Rosehill on November 11.
Saturday’s Victory Stakes was the five-year-old’s first start since then, and his sixth and fifth placings in a pair of lead-up trials did little to inspire confidence.
But he returned to race-day competition on Saturday and showed his true colours.
Ridden for the first time by Vlad Duric, Antino was slow to leave the starting gates and appeared to be struggling to stay in touch with the field for most of the race.
But Duric cut back to the rail in the straight and drove him through the inside of Wee Nessy, lifting and stretching out superbly to overpower that rival and win by a length.
2024 Victory Stakes replay – Antino
“That was a massive win,” Duric said.
“All the plans I thought I had in my head for this race went out the window at the jump. He was off the bridle the whole way and just couldn’t keep up.
“I decided to just switch across to the fence and ride up the fence, and it was a massive performance to get up and win. He was beautiful through to the post and is in for a great preparation.”
Antino has now had 15 starts for 10 wins, three placings and A$904,415 in stakes, with trainer Tony Gollan working backwards from the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) on June 15.
“I get nervous when this horse trials, when he jumps out, when he races, everything, because he’s just got so much ability,” Gollan said.
“The one thing I said to Vlad before he went out is that this horse really can sustain a long run – longer than any horse I’ve ever trained. And he certainly had to do that today. Not only was he slow out, but he was off the bridle mid-race and just never travelled. He made really, really hard work of it.
“But I knew, once they got inside the last furlong, they were never going to beat him. He just puts those ears back and he has a go. He’s a different beast. He’s not like any horse I’ve ever trained.
“Full credit to Vlad. He was a late booking for the ride when Mark Zahra got suspended, so he sat on him for the first time on Wednesday and didn’t know a whole lot about him. But we got the job done today.
“He will certainly rocket into Stradbroke calculations now, if he wasn’t there already. He’ll probably run in the Kingsford-Smith (Group 1, 1300m) here in a month, which will set him up nicely for the Stradbroke.”