Australian jockey Ryan Wiggins had a weekend to remember, winning both the Mackay Cup and the Whitsunday Guineas at Mackay on Saturday before finishing on a high when cruising to victory on Bustedup at the Sunshine Coast.
Australian jockey Ryan Wiggins had a weekend to remember, winning both the Mackay Cup and the Whitsunday Guineas at Mackay on Saturday before finishing on a high when cruising to victory on Bustedup at the Sunshine Coast.
Trained by Clinton Taylor out of Rockhampton, the son of Dusty Moon justified favouritism to win by a comfortable 1.3 lengths in Class 5 company.
In what was Bustedup’s fifth win in eight starts, Wiggins believes he is unlucky to not be undefeated.
“He’s a very nice horse,” Wiggins told SEN Track.
“He was probably a bit stiff not to be unbeaten in his whole career to be honest.
“He’s just run into a couple of handy horses. When he come to town last prep when Justin Stanley rode him, he ran into a pretty good horse called Georgie’s Pride, it’s gone on and won a few races and placed in group races.”
On that occasion, the four-year-old gelding started a short $1.55 favourite at Eagle Farm but was no match for Desleigh Forster-trained filly, who won by 1.5 lengths over Expert Eye, with Bustedup a similar margin away in third.
“The track was a bit firm for him that day and he pulled up a bit funny, but he’s come back this prep and he’s two from two again,” Wiggins said.
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“The way he put them away yesterday, I know it was only a Class 5 race at the Sunshine Coast on a Sunday, but the way he’s putting them away and the way he gives you the feel how green he still is that last little bit, he’s still learning and he’s still got a long way to go.
“He could make a really, really nice horse.”
The success on Sunday came on the back of a feature-race double at Mackay on Saturday, where the Brisbane hoop was able to go one better on Hail Manhattan in the 2000m feature after finishing runner-up in the Rockhampton Cup a fortnight earlier.
“The Hulberts just wanted me to give him a nice, easy run as possible early and then for a good finish,” Wiggins said.
“The race (Mackay Cup) was a bit muddling as you could probably see mid-race and I decided just to kick up and probably just ride him a little bit closer from the 1200m to the 600m and I got a nice run through and he got on the back of Mr Currie’s (Mark) and Nathan Day and he took me right into the race.
“The horse finished off really strong.
“To be honest, I thought the horse would win like that and he’s probably got a length on those sort of horses going forward.”
Hail Manhattan’s trainer, Will Hulbert, said on Sunday that the horse had pulled up very well and would continue his North Queensland campaign towards the Townsville Cup and Cairns Cup in a bid to emulate The Harrovian‘s effort in 2019.