Kiwi set to shine on Australia Day

By Glenn Davis

Despite being Australia Day, former Kiwi trainer Patrick Busuttin is hoping to grab some of the spotlight at iPSWICH on Wednesday.

Busuttin, 68, has a small team of four horses in work at Deagon, on Brisbane’s northern outskirts, and is hopeful of a strong showing from Likeabeel in the Benchmark 60 Handicap over 2450 metres.

Likeabeel indicated he was close to registering his third win of his career when the gelding finished strongly for fourth to King’s Row over 1900 metres at Kilcoy on January 13.

Busuttin owns the son of Foxwedge and has retained jockey Sairyn Fawke who was aboard in the five-year-old’s closing effort at Kilcoy.

Fawke started his career as an apprentice in Brisbane before relocating to Adelaide for several years and is now back riding after a lengthy injury setback over the Christmas period.

“Likeabeel had every chance at Kilcoy but his run was very good considering he had to come from a long way back,” Busuttin said.

“I think this is a suitable race for him and he should be hard to beat.”

Busuttin is best remembered among locals as the trainer of former top Kiwi stayer Castletown who campaigned in Brisbane during the 1994 Queensland Winter Racing Carnival.

“Castletown was a great stayer who won three Wellington Cups, an Auckland Cup and a New Zealand Derby, all at Group 1 level,” Busuttin said.

Castletown’s strapper Rata Prince still works for Busuttin after spending a short stint working in Japan and now does a lot of work as Likeabeel’s strapper.

Busuttin has trained 45 Group 1s in his career and is famous for tutoring champion Sydney trainer Chris Waller before he left New Zealand to train in Singapore for 10 years.

“When Rata left to go overseas, Chris Waller had just left school and came to work for me and eventually was foreman for five or six years,” Busuttin said.

Busuttin also spent two years training successfully in Macau.

“I won the Derby in both Macau and Singapore as well as a number of their big races,” he said.

“I trained Bocelli who was the first horse to win the Triple Crown in Singapore.”

Busuttin gave up training to retire on the Gold Coast a few years ago before the training bug returned.

“I retired to the Gold Coast but I was asked to help out and take over a stable there from a fellow New Zealander for 12 months,” he said.

“I gave it all away after that for another year before I got the urge to start training again.”