Three-year-old stayer Rising Red has booked a ticket to his homeland following a tenacious victory at Sandown.
The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained Redwood gelding will travel to New Zealand for the $1 million Vodafone New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie on March 4.
Given a good ride by Dwayne Dunn, Rising Red defeated older rivals in the 2100-metre OTI Handicap to notch his second win from eight starts.
“He’s no superstar, but he’s a good honest horse,” Busuttin said. “These are tough older horses he’s racing against and he’s only three.
“It was a perfect ride by Dwayne. It is probably the only time he has come through nice and straight – he’s always hung in and been a bit of a goose but he’s done everything right today.
“He probably doesn’t have the class to win a Derby, but it’s worth a million dollars and they can get a wet Derby over there and he’d swim through it. As long as he pulls up well he’ll be on the plane over there.”
Rising Red is raced by his breeders John and Victoria Carter along with several staff members at the Cranbourne Turf Club, including CEO Neil Bainbridge.
Busuttin and Young have made a good impact on the Victorian training ranks since relocating to Cranbourne from New Zealand last year, sending out 23 winners to date.
