Karaka 2025 graduate Blind Raise (NZ) (Ace High) rose to favouritism for next month’s Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m) with a runaway performance in the A$300,000 Group Three Sportsbet Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on Saturday.
Offered by breeders The Oaks Stud in Book 1 of Karaka 2025, Blind Raise was bought by trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young for $70,000. He has now had five starts for four wins and A$440,475 in stakes.
A black-type winner as a two-year-old in the Listed ANZAC Day Stakes (1400m), Blind Raise resumed on a stakes-winning note earlier this month in the Listed McKenzie Stakes (1300m) at Sandown on September 5.
On Saturday he improved his three-year-old record to two starts for two wins, both at black-type level, with his best performance yet.
Ridden by Blake Shinn, Blind Raise found himself caught wide on the outside of Alchemistic (Shamus Award) and American Eagle (Too Darn Hot) through the early stages of the race, then could have been left flat-footed when Wolf Gap (Palace Pier) suddenly swooped around the outside of the field in a bold move before the home turn.
But Shinn still had Blind Raise under a firm hold coming into the straight, and when he shook the reins at the favourite, he quickly asserted his superiority.
Blind Raise drew away from his outclassed opposition without Shinn ever asking him for maximum effort. He cruised clear to win by 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.”
Despite the wide run and the race rapidly changing complexion with Wolf Gap’s early move, Busuttin was never concerned.
“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 (Group One, 2040m).”
| Vendor | The Oaks Stud |
| Purchaser | Busuttin Young Racing (Victoria) |
| Breeding | Ace High – Away Cruising |
| Sale | Lot 467, Karaka 2025 Book 1, $70,000 |
| Breeder | The Oaks Stud |
| Owner | Busuttin Racing, Mr A P Grant, Mr P M McDonnell, Mr B W Tonks, Mr S M Stanton, Mr J Campbell, Mr A Tassone, Mr M J Bradley, Mr L A C Fenwick, Mrs S Fenwick, Mr D R Fenwick, Mr B Fitz-Gibbon, Mr B Speedy, Mr T Dubbelde, Mr A R Marshall, Mr X Grant, Mr K J Ransfield, Mr K R Rutherford |
