Muramasa going for four straight in the G2 Zipping Classic

Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young have set Muramasa one more task before he can have some down time ahead of an autumn campaign.

The Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m) at Caulfield on Saturday is on the radar for the training partnership which could lead the gelding to Group 1 contests in the autumn.

Muramasa is unbeaten in three starts this campaign, culminating in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on November 11.

Young said Muramasa had risen to each task they had set for Muramasa, but realise he needs to lift the bar again on Saturday.

She said the only plan they had for Muramasa when he started his campaign was to try and win first-up in a benchmark 78 over 1630m at Flemington.

Muramasa duly completed that task and has since gone on to win the Group 3 Coongy Cup (2000m) at Caulfield ahead of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

“He won that race first-up which got his rating up and then we made plan from there,” Young said.

“He was dominant on Champions Day in the Queen Elizabeth, and he got home, he ate up, he’s trained on brilliantly and galloped as strongly since as he had done leading into the Queen Elizabeth.

“On his work, I think he can win, but it is a step up in grade and he has come up in grade very quickly, so if he runs below par, we can give him a bit of a freshen up as we have a nice horse that we can aim towards the Ranvet and the Tancred Stakes in the autumn.”

Young said she had always held the horse in high regard and wanted to run him in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas last year, for which he was an emergency.

Having missed that run, Muramasa went to Caulfield to finish second in the Group 3 Caulfield Classic (2000m) before running fifth in the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington.

After three runs as an autumn three-year-old, Muramasa required tieback throat surgery which can be hit-and-miss, but luckily for Busuttin and Young was hugely successful.

“I always thought he had good ability, but he was running on 80 per cent airway before that tieback, which obviously worked,” Young said.