Mick Price is not yet convinced Buggsy belongs in the top bracket of sprinting three-year-olds, but he will be given his chance to prove so after a first-up win on Saturday.
The son of Harry Angel out-toughed his rivals in the $150,000 Chef’s Hat Handicap (1000m) at Sandown.
The race did not carry Black Type status, but included classy Sydney visitor Incognito, and while Price knows he needs to rise a level or two to be competitive with the best of his age group he said he deserved a crack at them.
“Obviously he’s been Stakes-placed when he was on the way down and now you’ve got all these nice races in front of him and he is a colt,” Price said.
“You’ve got to go that way; Poseidon, Danehill, Coolmore.
“I’m not saying he’s going to be good enough, because we are on a soft track and it’s off-Stakes form, but that’s the way he’s got to go.”
How brave Buggsy 💪
He keeps kicking to make it two from two over the 1000 at Sandown 👏@CWilliamsJockey @MickPriceRacing pic.twitter.com/HigqgacwyH
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 22, 2026
Price, who trains in partnership with Michael Kent Jnr, has a good measuring stick in terms of sprinting three-year-olds with last season’s Golden Slipper winner Guest House also in their care.
After being headed in the final furlong, Buggsy ($3.20 fav) dug deep to score by a short-head from Jacaranda ($11) with the fast-finishing Calamari Ring ($13) a half-neck back third.
Saturday’s race was Buggsy’s first since his third placing in the Listed Redoute’s Choice Stakes (1200m) on April 11, with his only start a debut win over 1000m at Saturday’s venue.
Craig Williams, who was aboard for the debut win, reunited with Buggsy on Saturday and said the colt still has some maturing to do, which gives him hope he could step up as his career progresses.
“He’s still thinking about other things, but when he turns into a racehorse it’s great,” Williams said.
“He’s got nice ability and he’s got very good determination.”
Buggsy’s win was the middle pin in a treble in the first six races for Williams, who completed a running double aboard the Clayton Douglas-trained Final Moment, having earlier partnered Nearco Frod to a fourth-straight win in the 2400m staying event.
