Blake Shinn produced a masterful and courageous ride in the 2024 Toorak Handicap to whip right round the outside of the field and come from last to first bringing the Tony Gollan-trained Antino home in the last by an emphatic 6.5 lengths.

Caulfield Guineas Day came to a close with a bang with Shinn taking matters into his own hands with a big power move approaching the home turn in the 144th edition of the Group 1 $1 million Toorak Handicap (1600m).

Having settled last in the run on the gun Queenslander the hoop looped the entire pack to hit the front 400m out and from there Antino did the rest demolishing his rivals by a historic margin to atone for his second to Attrition last year.

“Just really delighted to get the win on Antino today,” Shinn told Racing.com.

“He’s been knocking on the door to get that Group 1 and we were hoping that would come today.

“I rode him conservatively and brought him into the race when I thought the race was slackening a bit.

“God he was strong to the line!”

With Attrition winning Sydney’s Group 2 $2 million Hill Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill earlier on Saturday, the form out of last year’s Toorak Handicap was further franked with Antino stealing the show ahead of Craig (2nd) and Alsephina (3rd) this spring.

It was a one act affair the closing stages and a Toorak Handicap result that confirmed the high opinion Gollan had always had of his Kiwi-bred son of Redwood.

“I was really worried, obviously,” Gollan admitted post-win.

“Dawdled out, Blake did say before the race, ‘ I just want to have him travelling, as long as he can travel well under me then I can get into the race when I’m ready.’

“We knew the other night off the Moonee Valley run, he tends to stay in a really long run, but I didn’t expect him to be quite that – he’s a master rider, he’s an elite jockey and they make the right decisions more often than not and that’s what he did today.”

The six-year-old brought in the strong form lines fourth up and fit including back-to-back thirds to Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes and Group 2 Feehan Stakes both over the mile.

“He was brilliant, he was awesome, he’ s a really good horse, he’s been destined to win a Group 1 and it’s just been a matter of when and to win it like that, we came here, it was so close last year, I thought he was just a run short,” Gollan added.

“This year I knew I had him, as good as we’ve ever had him. It was just a matter of luck on the day, and he took that into his own hands and got the job done.

“It means a lot.  Very much mixed emotions. We were back last early. Thought we were in a lot of trouble but what a masterful ride by Blake.

“The first thing we said after Moonee Valley the other night when we were racing against Pride of Jenni (in the Feehan)

“He can sustain and build pressure in a race. No matter where we landed today, we just wanted to travel and then be able to use that long sustained run and that’s what he did.

“We took off a bit early on him, but he can sustain a good gallop for a good while, what a dominant display!”

The sky now looks the limit for Antino whose upcoming targets could include the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes in mid-November or a potential trip to Hong Kong for the December majors.

“Yeah, look this might change things now. I was maybe going to go to the Rupert Clarke, and then to Hong Kong, but I’ll just play it by ear,” Gollan said, hinting at potential bigger targets.

“We’ll get home and let the dust settle next week, and you know the horse is in the peak of his powers now.

“It’s just a matter of holding him in that condition.”

2024 Toorak Handicap Results

Table Credit: Racing Australia. 

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