Star Queensland galloper Antino produced a remarkable performance to open his carnival campaign at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The high-class son of Westbury Stud resident Redwood was a stunning second-up winner of the G2 Hollindale Stakes over 1800 metres, overcoming a heavy track to distance a high-class field.
Unplaced when resuming in Sydney in the G1 All-Aged Stakes, Antino was slow to clear the gates as his custom and settled last before rider Blake Shinn made an early move down the back straight.
The six-year-old was widest into the straight before he hit the front 300 metres from home and careered away to win by three and a-half lengths.
“We’d only been to 1800 metres once before with this horse, but we knew what we had to do with him when we got back from Hong Kong,” Gollan said.
“It was a bit more daring than we’d been previously. We decided to go to Sydney for the All-Aged, but nothing went right for him there.”
Antino has now won 12 of his 25 starts with stake earnings in excess of A$2.5 million and will next take aim at the G1 Doomben Cup.
“He’s a really funny horse, he’s got his quirks, but he means a lot to me. He’s the best horse I’ve ever trained, and when you trust him, he gives it back to you in spades. It was so good to see him deliver.”
Shinn said his confidence was buoyed by Gollan’s pre-race thoughts and instructions.
“We had to try and come up with something different and Tony said the horse was the best he could be.
“I trusted the horse and it was just a great run.”
Bred by the Blossom Trading & Breeding Company, Antino was purchased out of Cheltenham Stables’ New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale draft by New Balance Racing, of Hong Kong, for $27,000.
He is a son of the unraced Bahhare mare Mahamaya, who is a sister to the G1 Captain Cook Stakes winner Hurrah and the Hong Kong Stakes winner and Group 1 performer Best Gift.