By Danny Matthews
Tony Gollan openly expresses how exciting he thinks the current group of three-year-olds in his stable can be and that applies to Busting who steps out for the final run of his first campaign at Doomben on Saturday.
Winning on debut at Gold Coast on December 3 over 1100 metres, then following up in a Benchmark 65 event at the Sunshine Coast on Boxing Day, the gelding's latest effort delivered a second-placing behind the promising Junqueira on January 7.
Despite tasting defeat for the first time on that day, Gollan is exciting to see Busting step out for the last time this campaign in the QTIS 3YO Benchmark 72 Handicap over 1200 metres on Saturday.
"He's a horse I really like," Gollan said.
"He's trained on really well and this will be his last run for the prep for no other reason than that I just don't want to run him again before starting his next campaign looking towards the back-end of the winter carnival."
With this start not an afterthought, Gollan's planning has progressed well so far.
"He's improved and improved and his run at Gold Coast last start was his most complete performance as a racehorse even though he ran second," he adds.
"If he can take that and a tiny bit of improvement again into this run, he can race really well."
Busting has been on a ratings climb with each run and Gollan agrees that the John O'Shea-trained Junqueira can be a good measuring platform on the track.
"That horse, Junqueira, was able to jump and find that nice position. I thought pre-race that it would be behind our horse and had that played out, I don't know if he would have beaten Busting," the top trainer said.
"The way it panned out with that horse next or in front of us, that's how it worked out differently."
Gollan notes that given Junqueira and Busting were able to put a three length gap on the rest of the field, the form can stack up this weekend.
Drawn barrier nine, Busting will be ridden by two-kilo claiming apprentice Angela Jones and is rated the $2.50 favourite in early markets on Wednesday.
By Spirit Of Boom, Busting was purchased for $150,000 at the 2021 Gold Coast Yearling Sales.