Bustino

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Bustino


caption =
sire = Busted
grandsire = Crepello
dam = Ship Yard
damsire = Doutelle
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1971
country = Great Britain flagicon|UK
colour = Bay
breeder = E. Cooper Bland
owner = Lady Beaverbrook
trainer = Dick Hern
record = 9: 5-3-1
earnings = US$335,030 (equivalent)
race = Sandown Classic Trial (1974)
Lingfield Derby Trial (1974)
Great Voltigeur Stakes (1974)
Coronation Cup (1975)

British Classic Race wins:
St. Leger Stakes (1974)
awards= British Champion Older Horse (1975)
Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland (1989)
honours =
updated= CURRENTTIME, CURRENTDAYNAME CURRENTMONTHNAME CURRENTDAY CURRENTYEAR (UTC)

Bustino (foaled 1971) was an British Thoroughbred Champion racehorse and an important sire. Bred by E. Cooper Bland, he was sired by 1967 British Horse of the Year, Busted, and out of the mare Ship Yard.

Owned and raced by Marcia Anastasia Christoforides (Lady Beaverbrook), Bustino was trained by Dick Hern. As a three-year-old in 1974, the colt won the Sandown Classic Trial and Lingfield Derby Trial in England and finished second to Sagaro in the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp Racecourse in France. Back in England, he won the Great Voltigeur Stakes and in September captured the St. Leger Stakes, one of the British Classic Races.

Sent back to the track in 1975 at age four, Bustino won the Group One Coronation Cup at Epsom Downs Racecourse then was an integral part of what the British racing world and major newspapers dubbed the "Race of the Century."

Britain's "Race of the Century"

In The Guardian newspaper's list of the "10 greatest horse races of all time"," the match between Bustino and Grundy in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot Racecourse on July 26, 1975 was ranked number two.

Bustino was up against a very solid field in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes that was open to older horses. The participants included Eclipse Stakes winner, Star Appeal, Nelson Bunker Hunt's mare, Dahlia, one of the greatest female horses in world Thoroughbred racing history, and the three-year-old Grundy, a winner of both the Epsom and Irish Derbys.

Trainer Dick Hern knew Bustino had the stamina for the 2,414 metre race (1½ miles) and started two of Bustino's stablemates to set a blistering early pace designed to wear down Grundy. With half a mile left to run, Bustino and jockey Joe Mercer moved into the lead. He was ahead by four lengths by the time they entered the top of the straight when Pat Eddery on Grundy mounted a charge. The two horses began pulling away from the rest of the field and with a furlong left to run, Grundy caught and passed Bustino who in turn refused to quit and retook the lead. Just fifty yards from the finish line, a relentless Grundy fought back and recaptured the lead, holding off Bustino's continued furious effort to win by half a length with Dahlia another five lengths behind in third. The winning time of 2:26.98 demolished the race record by almost two and a half seconds. As of 2007, no horse has come close to equaling it. As sometimes happens, a race of this nature took a toll on both horses. Grundy ran only once more without success and Bustino never raced again.

As a sire

Retired to stud duty, Bustino proved a very successful sire. His offspring include:
* Easter Sun (b. 1977), won 1982 Group 1 Coronation Cup
* Stufida (b. 1981), won Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio
* Rakaposhi King (b. 1982), multiple stakes winner
* Supreme Leader (b. 1982), a flagship National Hunt stallion for Coolmore Stud who, between 1987 and 2001, covered 3,416 mares(not including the non-Thoroughbred mares he covered)
* Paean (b. 1983), won the 1987 Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup
* Terimon (b. 1986), won the 1991 Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes

Bustino was notably the damsire of a number of successful horses including Nashwan and Vintage Crop. In 1989, he was the Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland in 1989.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/bustino Bustino's pedigree and partial racing stats]
* [http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/breeding-news/2002/May/21/Prolific-sire-Supreme-Leader-dead-in-Ireland.aspx Thoroughbred Times article on Supreme Leader]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4KvQ5fxsdE Video at YouTube of the "Race of the Century"]