Interlinked (NZ) will have to concede weight to his fellow three-year-olds over 2000m at Flemington on Saturday as the unbeaten son of Savabeel aims to make it three wins from three starts.
Trained by Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young who purchased him out of Ohukia Lodge’s 2022 Ready To Run draft, the OTI racing gelding is certainly bred to stay and proved too strong when beating the older horses at Caulfield in a benchmark 64 over 1600m at just his second outing.
“Got to carry a bit of weight, there’s not too many horses that go from a maiden and win a 64 against older horses, it’s always hard to do, he did that, narrowly but impressively,” co-trainer Trent Busuttin said.
The stable has opted to keep recently graduated senior jockey Thomas Stockdale aboard rather than claim, meaning Interlinked will concede between 2.5 and 5.5 kilograms to his rivals in Saturday’s benchmark 70.
“He probably looks the one to beat on Saturday but he’s got to carry 60 kilos, he’s got the penalty for having two wins so he’s got to give the others in the race a bit of weight so if he can win with 60 kilos I’d say he’s a decent horse,” Busuttin said.
A win on Saturday could potentially inspire the stable to aim up at a Derby, with both the ATC and SA varieties in the Autumn to look forward to, but the stable are happy just taking things one run at a time with a horse they believed always had staying promise.
“We liked him but you never know until you get to the races, he’s shown enough at home, always thought he’s a nice staying horse but until they do it, you’ve got to prove it… we’ve always liked him.”
Interlinked opened second favourite for Saturday’s contest at $3.60 after drawing barrier three behind the Andrew Bobbin trained Girls Girls Girls (Fiorente) at $2.80.
