Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young will bring the right horses to Flemington for Saturday’s Andrew Ramsden Stakes but admit they will probably need the right conditions as well.
Within their past couple of starts, New Look has won the Chairman’s Quality at The Championships in Sydney, while American Wolf took out the Adelaide Cup, and both will look to obtain a free pass into the Melbourne Cup on Saturday.
“It is a big lure with these horses you know are going to stay the trip,” Busuttin said. “Every owner would like to have a runner in the Melbourne Cup and these are stayers still on their way up.
“New Look probably needs a bit of cut in the ground. You saw how he thrived on it in the Chairman’s, and then in the Sydney Cup he loomed, but I think he felt the ground at the end of the two miles.
“It is the right next step to keep him going, but the set weights are against him a bit, given he meets the Cup winner [Changingoftheguard] 4-1/2 kilos worse off.
“But if we get a soft track and a bit of tempo, I would expect him to be in the finish.”
Grahame Begg-trained Zakouma is $4.40 favourite for the Ramsden as he steps out beyond 2000m for the first time in the 2800m examination, in front of Changingoftheguard at $5.50 and emerging stayer The Western Front at $7, while New look is kept safe at $10.
But Busuttin believes the only four-year-old in the field, $16 chance American Wolf should not be forgotten.
“He has won a St Leger and Adelaide Cup and once he gets out to this trip, he just loves to get into wars,” Busuttin said. “You saw it in he just didn’t want to give in and the one thing he will do is stay.
“We have kept him going for this race, and he has won over this course before. He needs a good track to show his best, though.”
