Leading rider Blake Shinn has reclaimed the ride aboard Antino (NZ) (Redwood) when the Queenslander goes second-up into the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday week.
Trainer Tony Gollan confirmed on Tuesday that Shinn will reacquaint himself with the Memsie Stakes’ fourth placegetter at Flemington, after a somewhat luckless run for Jamie Kah at Caulfield, where he finished three-and-a-half lengths adrift of the winner Pinstriped.
Shinn has ridden Antino three times in the past for a Gr.3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) win and a Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) second placing before they were again runners-up in the Gr.2 Crystal Mile (1600m) at The Valley last spring.
Gollan told TAB Radio on Monday that he was pleased with Antino’s fresh effort despite the 10-time winner doing a few things wrong.
“He just ambled out a bit and put himself on the back foot, which in this grade of racing, it makes it pretty hard,” Gollan said.
“(Pride Of) Jenni went along at a nice clip then mid-race, which we expected, we were just chasing from way out under that sort of pressure, which was a bit of a shame.
“I think there were positives in it – he closed the race off really well – but he just left himself too much work to do.
“We are just going to tinker around a few things in the next couple of weeks with him and if anything, you would imagine going to the mile on the big track at Flemington will be far more suitable.”
Gollan said he may ask for a barrier attendant to assist with Antino in the gates so he can jump cleanly.
“I’ll just mix up things with him to make sure he’s 100 per cent,” he said. “We were really happy going into the weekend and we’ll probably have a late tail on him to help him jump that little bit better in the Makybe.
“But we aren’t going to panic too much.
“I thought for a horse that we think is going to get a mile and perhaps even further, particularly on the bigger tracks, it wasn’t too bad a first-up run.
“Out of the Memsie, he has to be a top-four or five chance in the Makye Diva.”
