Trainer Tony Gollan admits he isn’t sure when Antino (NZ) (Redwood) will next be seen at the races following a frustrating dose of bad luck in Sunday’s Group 1 Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin.
The star galloper, who won the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap in the spring, is due to return home to Australia before Christmas, with Gollan left to delicately balance the six-year-old’s workload ahead of another big 12 months ahead.
“He flies back on the 22nd and gets back here on the 23rd of December, then he’s got to do a couple of weeks of quarantine down in Victoria,” Gollan said on RadioTAB.
“I’m not really sure exactly what I will do with him yet, it will just depend on what I want to do from quarantine and how he comes through this next period.
“I’d love to give him some time in a grass paddock, but timing gets pretty tight. They’re not robots either are they?
“He’s come through the run really well but I’m mindful, I think he’s got a really good year ahead of him, I don’t want to put him back into work too soon.
“Most of his rest is going to be in Hong Kong, box and walker, which is not normal for him.”
Antino this year contested top races during Brisbane’s Winter Carnival, before five runs in the Melbourne spring ahead of his Hong Kong venture.
Gollan says the International Races at Sha Tin will again be at the front of his mind in the years ahead.
“I certainly will get back to that meeting again, there’s no doubt I’ll have horses race there at that meeting again,” Gollan said.
