Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young have reason to be excited about the team they have assembled for their hometown Cup meeting on Saturday and one yet to be seen this side of the equator has them particularly bullish.
Brayden Star will make his Australian debut in the $175,000 Shooting Star (1500m).
The four-year-old is a British-bred son of Twilight Son who had five starts in the UK for one win, a 7-1/2-length romp in a 1994m race for three-year-olds at Salisbury at his most recent appearance.
The entire is a half-brother to Maddie Raymond's Bendigo, Warrnambool, Werribee and Terang Cups winner Wentwood and while Busuttin is excited to produce him on Saturday, it is in a race and venue that Busuttin said will provide its challenges.
"He looks a good horse, but whether 1500 around a tight track like Cranbourne will be his go, I don't know," he said.
"Ultimately, he's going to be a very smart horse though, definitely a 2000, 2400-metre horse, so I'm very excited about him but guarded about him going into Saturday."
The Shooting Star is a race for horses who have won up to three starts but not competed in any more than nine races.
Brayden Star, who will be ridden by Damien Oliver, heads betting alongside the Peter Moody-trained Victory Bay, while last-start winners Thaler and Vultan are among the others engaged in the race that precedes the $500,000 Listed Cranbourne Cup.
Brayden Star's preparations have included two impressive jumpouts at Cranbourne during October.
In the first, over 1000m, he swept home from second-last at the 400m under light riding to finish second, beaten a head, and more recently was prominent throughout in a 1200m workout and cruised home 3-1/2 lengths clear of his rival.
"If he wins, certainly it'd be no surprise but I'm picking he's going to be backed heavily on the back of those two jumpouts but there's still that little query over him."
Brayden Star is part of a big team at Cranbourne for Busuttin and Young, who also have Uncle Bryn and Flash Aah in the Cranbourne Cup and three runners – Serangoon, Gottabesavvy and Reservoir Dog – in the $175,000 3YO Cranbourne Classic (2025m).
