Muramasa remains on track for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m), despite some lacklustre performances in the autumn, according to co-trainer Trent Busuttin.
The five-year-old gelding, a dual Group 3 winner last spring, struggled with an eighth-place finish in the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) and a fourth-place finish in the Listed Victoria Gold Cup (2000m) during his brief autumn campaign.
“The big dream is the Melbourne Cup, but he needs to get back to his spring form,” Busuttin, who trains in partnership with Natalie Young, told Racing.com.
“Over autumn, he didn’t run well in his two races, and he didn’t trial well either, so we pulled the pin.
“He was due to kick off in the Heatherlie at Caulfield over 1700 metres (on August 29), but he got a temperature spike, and it knocked him around a little.
“But he’s ready to go, and he’ll run at Flemington over the same distance on September 14.”
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