The New Zealand-bred Blind Raise stamped himself as one of the horses to beat in next month’s Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) with a dominant performance in the A$300,000 Gr.3 Sportsbet Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on Saturday.
Now a four-time winner from only five career starts, and a perfect two-from-two this season, Blind Raise has risen to $4 equal favouritism alongside Tron Bolt in the TAB’s fixed-odds market for the Caulfield Guineas on October 10.
The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained Blind Raise had resumed with a smart win in the Listed McKenzie Stakes at Sandown on September 5, and more of the same was expected on Saturday with the son of Ace High sent out as a $2.40 favourite.
But it was not smooth sailing for Blind Raise and his jockey Blake Shinn after jumping from the outside gate in a field of nine. They were caught wide when taking up a handy position on the outside of Alchemist and American Eagle coming down the side of the track and then could have been left flat-footed and swallowed up when second favourite Wolf Gap swooped around the outside in a bold move before the home turn.
Shinn still had Blind Raise under a hold coming into the home straight, however, and then a couple of shakes of the reins was all it took for him to rally and take command. He changed gears and shot clear, opening up a winning margin of two and three-quarter lengths.
“That definitely was a statement ahead of the Caulfield Guineas,” Shinn said. “He’s an exceptional horse.
“I’m just delighted to get a win for Trent and Natalie, they’re great judges of horses. It didn’t work for the horse in the winter, when they took him to Queensland, and they’ve come back and he’s just got a real aura about him.
“We had to work a little bit early, and I wanted to give him a bit of a breather, which we did. And then they came at him with that mid-race move. But when they took off, he just came up underneath me really nicely. He won as he liked in the end and untouched.
“He was off a two-week back-up into today, after only one trial into his first-up run, so I’m pleased he’s got three weeks now into the Guineas. Trent and Natalie can do what they like with him and it’s exciting.
“He’s a $70,000 horse from New Zealand by Ace High, it’s just great and I’m really looking forward to the Caulfield Guineas.”
Busuttin was largely unfazed by Blind Raise’s wide trip and the mid-race move.
“We thought Linda Meech (on Alchemistic) would lead and we would have to work,” he said. “And then Mark Zahra (on American Eagle) did his job and kept us out.
“Our horse has improved a hell of a lot. He’s such a relaxed, calm horse, and first-up off the back of one trial at Sandown, he was sweating, he was jig-jogging, he was up and about. But today he was asleep and I knew it was game on.
“He’s a horse with a good turn of foot. When they whipped around the outside and Blake was still sitting pretty on him, I was pretty happy.
“He will go into the Guineas without another run. It was a two-week turnaround without a break and it’s three weeks to the Guineas now and then possibly another two weeks to the Cox Plate (Gr.1, 2040m).”
Offered by his breeders The Oaks Stud in Book 1 of Karaka 2025, Blind Raise was a $70,000 purchase by Busuttin Young Racing. His five-race career has now produced four wins and A$440,475 in stakes.
Blind Raise is by Rich Hill Stud stallion Ace High out of the Darci Brahma mare Away Cruising, a daughter of Seachange, who carried The Oaks Stud’s colours to seven Group One victories and two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year honours.
Away Cruising is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Divan and also to the two-race winner Pelican, dam of Group One performer and young Coolmore stallion prospect Storm Boy.
Blind Raise is one of two winners from two foals to race out of Away Cruising. She is also the dam of five-race winner Usir (by American Pharoah).
After foaling Blind Raise in 2023, Away Cruising returned to Ace High and produced a colt that is now a two-year-old. She has a yearling colt by Almanzor. – NZ Racing Desk.
