Sydney jockey Nash Rawiller will be the new rider for Buffering when he lines up in the Group 1 $400,000 Smirnoff BTC Cup (1200m) at Doomben on May 12.
Leading Brisbane trainer Robert Heathcote confirmed the booking after Buffering made an one act affair of the $100,000 WFA Coca-Cola Amatil (1200m) at Eagle Farm yesterday.
Rawiller has also been booked for the Group 1 $650,000 Carlton Mid Doomben 10,000 (1350m) at Doomben on May 26.
Buffering was to race last Saturday in the Group 2 $175,000 Coca-Cola Amatil Victory Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm but when that meeting was abandoned after heavy rain on Friday night and Saturday morning, Racing Queensland Limited substituted it with the WFA race yesterday.
Heathcote was glad to see Buffering win so convincingly after a frustrating run of placings and the four year old raced away in the straight to score by seven lengths for stand in jockey Jim Byrne.
“He’s been racing against the best two sprinters in the world in Black Caviar and Hay List and he put them to the sword today,” Heathcote said.
“He deserves to be favourite for the BTC Cup and he’ll probably have a few more points shaved off him after today’s win.”
Rawiller has just completed the best two months of his career, teaming up with Gai Waterhouse to grab seven Group 1 wins over the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
The pair combined to win the two year old Triple Crown with Pierro, and took out the Queen Of The Turf, Doncaster Mile and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes with More Joyous and the Rosehill Guineas with Laser Hawk.
Rawiller also took out the William Reid on Foxwedge at Moonee Valley in March as well as the Futurity at Caulfield in February on King Mufhasa.
While Buffering returned to the winner’s list after three placings in Group 1 company in Melbourne during the Autumn, rival Adebisi failed to put any pressure on the Mossman gelding at any stage of the race and folded in the straight to be beaten twenty-two and a half lengths.
Trainer Desleigh Forster was concerned after the race but the club vet couldn’t find anything amiss with Adebisi but a full veterinary examination will be undertaken today back at her Eagle Farm stables.
Rawiller is no stranger to Buffering having won the Group 2 $175,000 Urbis Roman Consul Stakes at Randwick on October, 2010 as well as finishing second to Black Caviar in the Group 1 $1m Patinack Farm Classic (1200m) at Flemington at the end of last year’s Melbourne Cup carnival.
But Rawiller’s great run of success hasn’t all been without its hiccups and has had several run-ins with Stewards over his whip action.
Stewards warned Rawiller at yesterday’s Canterbury meeting that he would have to check his riding style after they fined him on two occasions for using the whip in an action that was above shoulder height.
Rawiller was fined $400 for this offence for his winning ride on More Joyous in the Group 1 $500,000 Tabcorp Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick last Saturday and was also fined $300 when second on Flying Zero in the Benchmark 70 Handicap (1250m) yesterday.
The top rider was quick to bounce back and recorded a double at Canterbury, winning on the Gai Waterhouse trained Sherocksmyworld and Mossamine for Graeme Rogerson.
