Cranbourne pair look to turn back the clock

The Victoria Derby holds a special place for Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young who will saddle Keeneland in the Group 1 contest at Flemington.

Wind the clock back to 2011, Busuttin and Young made the trip over from New Zealand with Sangster to claim the Derby, providing the pair with their first Australian Group 1 win.

Part of the team that day was Hugh Bowman, who is making the trip down from Hong Kong to ride Keeneland in the 2500m Classic on Saturday.

Sangster’s win was the second of Bowman’s three Derby victories in four years, having scored with Lion Tamer in 2010 and Polanski in 2013.

And another piece of trivia is Keeneland will wear the same colours Sangster carried to victory 13 years ago.

Busuttin enters Saturday’s race confident Keeneland can turn around defeat in the Group 3 Caulfield Classic (2000m) on October 19, which followed victory in the Listed Super Impose (1800m) at Flemington on October 5.

Last year’s Derby winner Riff Rocket scored in the same race at Flemington before going under as a short-priced favourite at Caulfield.

Busuttin said the only excuse for Keeneland’s last start was he was not happy on the soft ground.

“I thought he got beaten on his merits,” Busuttin said.

“We were a $1.70 shot, and we were sitting outside the leader.

“The big thing out of it though was that John Allen said he didn’t like the cut out of the ground which was very surprising as he’s by Almanzor.

“It’s a different race the Derby on Saturday and it’s 2500 metres.

“You always want to win, and he got beaten, but I didn’t walk away from the race thinking that we couldn’t win.

“We’re pretty happy going into the race and he will stay all day.”

Busuttin said in Saturday’s race there was no standout contender, although El Castello did look impressive winning the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes in Sydney last week.

But Busuttin took heart from the blanket finish in The Vase at Moonee Valley last Saturday which points to this year’s Derby being an even contest.

“There are no boom colts that have defined the race in the past couple of weeks and last week in the Vase there was a nose over three horses,” Busuttin said.

“The 2500 metres, our horse is going to enjoy it, and he’s a genuine winning chance in the race.”