Premier Brisbane trainer Tony Gollan doesn’t put much credence in the fact Antino has the best international rating of any Australian horse in 2025 heading to Saturday’s Cox Plate.
Gollan’s star’s runaway four length win in the Doomben Cup rated 120 on the World’s Best Racehorse Rating to be only Australian galloper on the list this year.
“That surprises me but it doesn’t mean much to me either,” Gollan said. “I’m just getting him ready to run the race of his life in the Cox Plate.”
“Via Sistina went all right in this race last year.”
The defending champion rated 127 as she demolished the Moonee Valley track record in the weight-for-age Championship leaving the field in her wake.
It rated the third best performance of 2024, only behind City Of Troy and Laurel River, which got to the 128 mark.
Gollan knows the challenge in front of him and has brought Antino to his peak with three runs where he has improved as he has stepped up in trip. He beat Via Sistina home in the Turnbull Stakes when a runner-up to Sir Delius.
“The best run of his career was the Toorak Handicap last year and he was fourth-up then, so we did the same this spring,” Gollan said. “I thought I would follow the same pattern and he has stepped up with every run.”
“His win in the Doomben Cup was really strong and it shows he will be at his best over the 2000m.”
Antino came up with barrier six to sit directly outside Via Sistina in gate five for the Cox Plate on Saturday.
Via Sistina cruised around Moonee Valley on Tuesday morning, without the drama of last year’s Breakfast With The Best when she dumped James McDonald and did a couple of laps riderless.
Champion trainer Chris Waller believes she is in the same order as she was before her eight-length victory last year.
“She’s the same as last year,” Waller said.
“I know she hasn’t won in her last couple of runs, but the sectional times, if you break them down, I think she’s going as well.”
“We just haven’t had the pressure in the races that we would have liked. Subsequently she hasn’t won, but she’s going very well.”
