Expat New Zealand trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young know what it takes to win a Derby in Australia, and now they are setting their sights on Sydney with the unbeaten Immediacy.
The Kiwi-bred son of Tarzino extended his perfect record to three-from-three with a dominant performance in Saturday’s A$300,000 Gr.2 Stow Storage Autumn Classic (1800m) at Caulfield.
Immediacy’s super-impressive win prompted his trainers to look ahead to the Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) on March 23 and Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) on April 6. Busuttin and Young won the latter event with the New Zealand-bred Tavago in 2016, while fellow Kiwi-bred Sangster won the Gr.1 Victoria Derby (2500m) for the then-Cambridge-based stable in 2011.
“It’s exciting to have a horse that can put together three wins from three starts, including a Group Two along the way,” Young said. “We might have another genuine Derby horse, hopefully.”
Previously a narrow winner on debut at Cranbourne on December 29 and again at Sandown on January 17, Immediacy took a big step up in class on Saturday and raised his game in spectacular style.
Racing in blinkers for the first time, Immediacy took up a midfield position for jockey Luke Currie but was racing keenly down the back straight. He settled into his work nicely coming down the side of the Caulfield track, then swung out four wide at the home turn to stake his claim.
Immediacy swept to the lead 250m from the finish and sailed away, opening up a three-length margin over fellow Kiwi-bred Caracas.
“He jumped well today, first time in blinkers,” Currie said. “If anything, he was a little bit too keen. That was probably because he’d gone five weeks between runs and had the blinkers on. With this run under his belt, it might take that away. He showed a good turn of foot when we came out and I asked him to go.”
Immediacy has now earned A$233,790 for an ownership group headed by Ozzie Kheir and John O’Neill.
“He was awesome today,” Young said. “We weren’t sure about the blinkers, so we rung Luke during the week to talk to him about it. We said that the blinkers seemed to make him concentrate a lot better on the track at home – he really put his head down.
“He did over-race a touch today when the pace slackened, but he was off and gone once he got into the clear.
“We’ll probably head towards the Rosehill Guineas now. It’s good prize-money, and it gives him a run that way around ahead of the Derby.”
Immediacy was bred by Cambridge Stud owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay and is the third stakes winner by Westbury Stud stallion Tarzino.
The dam of Immediacy is the three-race-winning Pivotal mare But Beautiful, who is a half-sister to two stakes winners in the UK and France.
Originally bought by Game Lodge for $15,000 from the draft of Kiltannon Stables at Karaka 2022, Immediacy returned to Karaka later that year as a member of Riverrock Farm’s draft at the Ready to Run Sale. He was bought by Busuttin Racing and Group 1 Racing for $200,000.
“I was on my way to the airport to go to the sale, and I told my son Ben to pick out a horse for me,” Young said. “He picked this one, and I had a look and saw he’s out of a Pivotal mare – my type of pedigree. We flew over and had a look at the horse and loved him. Now I keep telling Ben he’s a future bloodstock agent!”