Bustling bidding to lay down strong Everest marker at Rosehill
Former Western Australian star poised to make instant impact for Price and Kent Jnr
Eastern racegoers will have their first look at exciting gelding Bustling (Frosted) in Saturday’s Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m), with trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr expecting an impactful spring campaign from the gelding to help consolidate their new Sydney base.
Initially trained by Daniel Morton for West Australian breeders Oakland Park Stud, Bustling burst onto the Perth scene, and racing’s national consciousness, when he won four of his five two-year-old starts early this year.
That included a 4.2 length romp in Western Australia’s juvenile highlight, the Karrakatta Plate (Gr 2, 1200m), before his last-start 2.6 length win in the WA Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) on May 4.
His Karrakatta win on a Good 4 came in a time of 1:09.06. Forty minutes later some of the best older sprinters in the land contested The Quokka (1200m), with Overpass (Vancouver) beating Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni) into second and Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) into fourth, in 1:08.88.
Such was Bustling’s form he was named WA Horse Of Year award as a two-year-old – joining such performers as Northerly (Serheed), Arcadia Queen and Amelia’s Jewel – as Price and Kent moved to beat off other suitors in acquiring the him for a team of their big spending owners, for $2 million.
In a considered plan by the trainers, the group was headed by Max Whitby, Col Madden and Neil Werrett, who then locked Bustling into their slot as the first confirmed runner for The Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 19.
Benefitting from the three-year-olds’ weight-for-age impost of only 53 kilograms, Bustling will attempt to emulate Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) and Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) by becoming the third Everest winner from that age group.
First, he’ll contribute to a particularly rich three-year-old scene when he lines up at Rosehill under Chad Schofield in a stunning edition of the Run To The Rose.
Bookmakers on Tuesday had Storm Boy (Justify) as a $2.30 favourite following his outstanding first-up win in the San Domenico Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m), ahead of Godolphin’s VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) winner Traffic Warden (Street Boss) at $5 and the also-resuming Switzerland (Snitzel) at $6.
Bustling sat next in the market at $9 alongside Chris Waller’s unbeaten Emirate (Extreme Choice), with John O’Shea and Tom Charlton’s Linebacker (Super Seth) at $11.
Kent said the market’s assessment was reasonable for this stage of Bustling’s Everest-aimed preparation, but said Sydneysiders could expect to see star quality from the gelding this spring.
Some evidence of that came in his effortless 1.4 length win against older horses in a 900-metre Rosehill barrier trial last week in his first competitive clockwise outing, beating Tapp-Craig (1400m) victor Makarena (Snitzel) into second.
“Bustling is going superbly. Mick and I are very, very happy with him,” Kent Jnr told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He’s been at our Rosehill base for the past two weeks, and had a nice trial last Thursday. He did everything right, was on his correct leads at all the right points, and Chad was glowing over the feel he gave him and said he had plenty more up his sleeve.
“He’s going into this first-up assignment in terrific order, but clearly he meets a class field of three-year-old colts, and we’ve been pretty vocal all the way through that our goal is the Everest.”
Kent said the stable was in the fortunate position of being able to target the gelding carefully towards Randwick’s rich sprint.
“Of course he’s there to run well this Saturday,” Kent said. “It’s a very deep race but he’s earned his right to be there, but he’s got plenty of improvement to come. We’re using the run to bring him on.
“It’s different when you’re training potential stud colts; they’ve got to make an impression every start. We’ve got our sights set on third-up.”
The Heritage Stakes (Listed, 1100m) on September 28 will likely be Bustling’s second-up start three weeks before his first race at Randwick on Everest day.
The third named foal of dual Perth city winner Busimiss (Key Business), and a half-brother to Perth metro victor Via Monte (Street Boss), Bustling became a hot target for Price and Kent early in his career.
“I strongly believe the recruiting of young athletes is as important as our training systems,” he said. “There’s not a day go by that Mick or I wouldn’t be looking at some horse somewhere around the world, whether its in yearling sales, or tried horses.
“Bustling came on our radar. It wasn’t so much what he was doing but how he was doing it. He was toying with his rivals, especially in the Karrakatta plate.
“We had this idea he might be the sort of three-year-old who could tackle an Everest. We’d seen it done before with Giga Kick and Yes Yes Yes winning, and our own Jacquinot (Rubick) ran so well in an Everest (fifth to Giga Kick) though he was better at 1400 metres.
“With that confidence behind us, we put a pitch to a couple of the slot holders, and we’re very grateful the Werrett, Whitby and Madden group were keen to invest in the idea, as well as a number of our stable clients.
“We’ve got the luxury of a slot, so we don’t have to have our grand final before the grand final.”
Sydney racegoers could expect an eye-catching specimen of a racehorse in Bustling, Kent said, but one with more development to come.
“He’s a great sort, a very athletic horse,” he said. “He’s medium sized but with plenty of leg beneath him and a great stretch to his body, and he really does cover the ground.
“When you look at him standing up you can see why he’s a fast horse. He’s got that great shape to him. He’s still a bit bum-high, he’s just turned three after all.
“We’re going to be asking a lot of him and hopefully he’ll deliver. We won’t be asking him to go past 1200 metres this prep. Whether we do that next prep will be a matter for later.”
Kent said races including Flemington’s Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) could also be in Bustling’s post-Everest near future. But his prime goal was to fly the flag for Australia’s new wave of young sprinting talent in the world’s richest race on turf.
“I do believe we are seeing a slight changing of the guard,” he said. “There are a few spots for the next wave of sprinters to come through, the likes of Joliestar, Estriela, Hayasugi and others.
“There’s a really great bunch of three-year-olds getting around. Clearly Bustling is one of them, and it’s just a matter of who takes the required improvement to go to the next level.
“But the early signs are very good that the two-year-olds have made nice improvement into good three-year-olds. It’s going to be a very good spring.”
Long-time Victorian heavyweights, Price and Kent have made a concerted move into Sydney recently.
In a sign of the shifting face of Australian racing in the modern era of dizzying prize-money in NSW, the stable is moving to tap into the lucrative Sydney scene. The other aim is to be closer to major Hunter Valley breeders, who are always keen to see their stock – particularly colts – train, trial and race in Sydney.
With long-time Price-Kent employee Ben Elam running operations, the stable has six temporary boxes at Rosehill, with a view to securing a permanent base of “20 or 30 boxes”, Kent said.
“We’ve had six boxes in the visitors’ barn for four or five months, and we’ve won a tick over $1.5 million in prize-money since we’ve been there, so it’s been very lucrative,” he said.
“Sydney’s been good to us, from winning the Golden Eagle with I’m Thunderstruck, to the Golden Rose with Jacquinot. We love going up there.
“It [the new stable] is to do with us wanting to capitalise on the race program up there. Also, we train for a lot of very good owners and breeders and a lot of them have said if we do create a Sydney stable there’ll be more support.
“These days, you’re just underselling yourself if you don’t have a presence there.”