Spotlight On: Gus

The heroics of Gus during New Zealand Cup week late last year at Addington were truly historic, and in so many ways.

The brilliant square gaiter Gus scored a unique Group 1 double by winning both the $400,000 Renwick Farms Dominion before backing up a few days later to claim the New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All.

The Dominion is the biggest trotting feature staged throughout the southern hemisphere; a famed two-mile standing-start feature while the New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All is a mobile start feature staged over the sprint distance of 1980m.

Gus became the first Australian-trained trotter to claim both Group 1 features.

Since 2000, New Zealand-trained winners of the Group 1 double include Take A Moment, Lyell Creek, Vulcan, I Can Doosit, Monbet and Oscar Bonavena.

The champion mare, Scotch Notch, won the 1983 Dominion before coming up short behind Sir Castleton in the New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All, while the recently retired champion Just Believe did the same - won the Dominion before being the runner-up behind Oscar Bonavena in the Free-For-All.

So, Gus joins Scotch Notch and Just Believe as the only Australian-trained winners of the Dominion. And Gus joins Tough Monarch (QBRED trotter) as the only Australian-trained winner of the New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All.

Tough Monarch finished as the runner-up behind Habibi Inta in the 2019 Dominion.

Now, pause, and let the above-mentioned names sink in.

Also, Gus is also the only Queensland-trained trotter to contest both feature events. And that’s remarkable given Queensland has never been considered a trotting state until recently.

The late Jim McNeil among others pioneered the introduction of trotting to the Sunshine State back in the mid-1990s but it was considered as an afterthought by many administrators and participants.

When the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship was staged at Albion Park for the first time in 2001, the series was made up of interstate and New Zealand-trained runners.

The locals could only watch on with amazement as the trotting stars strutted their stuff on the famed Breakfast Creek oval.

But, as history proves, Queenslanders are a determined and resilient bunch.

Fast forward two decades and the Sunshine State has staged another two Inter Dominion Trotting Championships - and the locals have played major roles in both series.

While yet to win either series (Just Believe and Arcee Phoenix), both Grand Finals were stacked with locally prepared trotters.

The improvement has been apparent and obvious for many to see, and witnessing Queensland-trained trotters contest interstate and New Zealand features is becoming quite common nowadays.

Without doubt, Our Overanova has always been regarded as the best performed trotter produced from the Sunshine State until Gus arrived. But names like Forgotten Hero, Sunana Asset, Hi Jinks, Supper Waltz Wilson, Kasyanov, Blown Budget, Maybe Hall, Northern Muscle, Majestic Simon, Not As Promised, Golden Sunset, Agent Black and Pinnie among others have flown the flag proudly.

But back to Gus.

Leading into his New Zealand campaign, some considered the plan as ambitious and even audacious. But the team behind Gus knew what they were dealing with and remained locked in.

Prepared by husband-and-wife duo of Chantal Turpin and Pete McMullen and raced by long time client Ross Patrick, Gus has been marked as ‘special’ from the day he arrived on their doorstep.

Purchased for solid money following just two starts in the deep south of New Zealand from the stables of Nathan Williamson, Gus was extremely gifted but stilling learning his craft.

His speed is his best asset: he can produce sectionals like good pacers can. And he’s got it in spades.

Gus won four of his first six Queensland starts while finishing a slashing fifth behind London To A Brick in the inaugural Group 1 Great Square during the 2023 Constellations carnival.

Later that same year, Gus took on the Inter Dominion challenge at Albion Park and safely qualified the Grand Final and finished unplaced behind Just Believe.

It was just his 16^th career start that night.

The following season, Gus achieved the Queensland double by winning the Jim McNeil Memorial and Darrell Alexander Final plus the Group 3 Qld Trotters Sprint in a career best time of 1:54.8.

The 2025 season was superb. Gus was outstanding throughout last year's Inter Dominion resulting in a fourth-place finish in the Grand Final won by Arcee Phoenix which was leader-dominated over the marathon distance of 3157m.

Heading to New Zealand was considered by many as fraught with danger. Could the enigmatic Gus handle the occasion – the flight and then the hype of Cup week?

Gus arrived in Christchurch unheralded but by the end of the week, he was a genuine superstar of the sport.

In the Dominion, sporting saddlecloth number 17, Gus was driven patiently and sat near last while a genuine speed was being set by Arcee Phoenix.

Moving into the backstraight on the final occasion, driver McMullen made the move and tipped three-wide with 1000m left to run. By the time he reached the 600m marker Gus was in front and humming.

In the straight, Gus scored by 2.25 lengths, defeating Mr Love and Oscar Bonavena. The winning time for the 3200m event was 2:02.7.

And, then on the Friday, Gus started from gate 10 - the outside draw in the 1980m feature. McMullen wasted little time putting Gus into the race and quickly sat parked outside race favourite Jilliby Ballerini with 1250m left to run.

At the top of the home straight, Gus had clearly put away Jilliby Ballerini while digging deep to fight off the closing efforts from millionaire trotters Muscle Mountain and Oscar Bonavena.

The winning time was 1:57.0.

“Chantal and I were probably oblivious to the enormity of Cup week in Christchurch. Tuesday was pulsating. The volume of people and atmosphere was like no other so to win was absolutely unreal but very hard to quantify with what we achieved,” McMullen explained.

“On the Friday, we arrived confident because he came through the Dominion so well. I had no hesitation putting him into the race when I did and the tempo was only moderate at the time. It’s a very long straight at Addington but to his credit, he was so brave and gave us everything he had. This will take a while to completely sink in.” 

Gus takes his overall record to 18 wins from 46 starts and $500,000 in earnings.

It’s the first time the Turpin/McMullen operation has campaigned in New Zealand and Gus beat the very best available talent on hand.

The exceptions were Keayang Zahara and The Locomotive, but clashing with both is unavoidable and trotting fans can’t wait for that day to arrive.

Interestingly, the Group 1 double took McMullen’s tally to nine and yet his first Gr.1 victory came aboard a trotter when My Valerie scored in the 2015 DJA Final at Albion Park for Sydney trainer Blake Fitzpatrick.

Turpin also has a Group 1 tally of nine victories.

The 2025 Cup week in Christchurch was memorable for many, but it was a clear illustration of how far the Sunshine State has come with the trotting gait.

If you can dream it, you can achieve it.

Congratulations Gus - suddenly, Queensland’s greatest ever trotter.