Consistent
four year-old Trust in a Gust had never won a stakes race until Sunday when he
broke his Black Type maiden with a courageous win over triple Group I winner
Dissident in the Group I MRC Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.
An easy winner at two of his three runs back from a spell, Trust in a Gust (pictured Darryl Sherer) finished a close and unlucky second to Atlante in a Listed race sandwiched
between those wins and stripped fit and ready to go for his acid test.
The Darren Weir trained son of Keep the Faith enjoyed the run of the race for
Damian Lane before fighting on with dogged determination to outpoint Dissident
and take the 1400 metre sprint by a short half head.
A protest was lodged by the runner-up, but stewards were happy enough to leave
the race with Trust in a Gust to the great delight of his big team of owners.
"He's a great racehorse, he got headed and fought back, he stuck his head
out at the right time, it's a great thrill," Weir said.
Weir bought Trust In A Gust for $45,000 from the Swettenham Stud draft at the at
the 2012 Melbourne Premier Sale and admitted he did not have an owner for the
youngster at the time.
"We had no-one, John Foote (agent) picked him out and I liked him so he
ticked those boxes and now we've got a good bunch of owners in him," Weir
revealed.
"He's been a good advertisement for us, he's a great little horse to train
and tries hard."
Trust In A Gust has been placed to great advantage by Darren Weir to take
advantage of lucrative VOBIS bonuses through his career and was actually named
Super VOBIS Horse of the Year for 2013/2014.
His overall record reads nine wins and five placings from 16 starts with
prizemoney of $867,650.
Bred by Adam Sangster, Trust in a Gust is the first Group I winner and fifth
stakes-winner for Sunday Silence sire Keep the Faith, who stood at Swettenham
Stud before his transfer to Greta West Stud in 2012 and is advertised this year at a fee of $4,400.
He is the third foal of Subtle Breeze (USA), who was also bred by Swettenham
Stud in the Northern Hemisphere and is a half-sister by Storm Cat to Group I
Epsom Oaks and Irish Derby winner Balanchine.
Swettenham Stud sold a yearling colt by their exciting shuttle sire Equiano
(Fr) from Subtle Breeze for $120,000 at Magic Millions this year to Kennewell
Racing and have a yearling colt to follow by another of their young sires in
Master of Design.
Subtle Breeze ventured away from the Swettenham sires last year and was covered
by Golden Slipper hero Pierro.