Buffering (horse)

Buffering continued to perform well despite running into an impressive selection of successful sprinters during the middle part of his career. After the Coolmore Stud Stakes as a three-year-old, he competed in a further 16 Group 1 races before he won one, with Black Caviar, Sepoy, Foxwedge, Hay List and Sea Siren among the horses that defeated Buffering during this time. Of the first 17 Group 1 races he competed in, he placed in ten. He also managed to win five lesser group races during this time. It was not until October 2013, at his 36th racetrack start and as a six-year-old that Buffering won his first Group 1 race, the Manikato Stakes. He then went on to win Group 1 races at both of his next starts, winning the VRC Sprint and the Winterbottom Stakes in the Spring before returning in the Autumn to contest the TJ Smith Stakes, where he first encountered and was defeated by Lankan Rupee. He then returned to his home state of Queensland with a view to contesting the Stradbroke Handicap but after failing to win in either of his two starts in the Group 1 BTC Cup and Group 1 Doomben 10,000 Buffering was spelled.

As a seven-year-old, Buffering returned to Melbourne to compete in the Spring Racing Carnival, where he won his next Group 1 race, the Moir Stakes, turning the tables on his TJ Smith Stakes conqueror Lankan Rupee. He was subsequently defeated at his next two starts, running seventh behind Lankan Rupee when defending the Manikato Stakes and fourth in the Darley Classic, a race where he met Chautauqua and Terravista for the first time, with the latter winning. Buffering was then sent abroad for the first time. In December 2014, Buffering raced in the Hong Kong Sprint and, having been defeated at his prior two starts, was sent out as a 40/1 chance. He finished an admirable sixth in his first foray into international racing.

Illness and injury plagued his seven-year-old season, as he was forced to miss the Sydney Autumn and Brisbane Winter carnivals for the first time in his career. It was not until his eight-year-old season, in spring 2015, that Buffering returned to the track, winning his track return in the Moir Stakes, making him a three-time winner. That win was followed up by him being sent to Perth and winning the Winterbottom Stakes for the second time. In January 2016 he raced at the Gold Coast Magic Millions carnival, winning the Magic Millions Plate. He was then rested before being sent to Dubai in March for the Dubai World Cup Night G1 Al Quoz Sprint, where as a 9/1 chance he won his first race on international soil and surpassed $7 million in career money earnings. The Al Quoz Sprint win marked the biggest win in his career aged eight and was his seventh Group 1 victory. He finished last in the Chairman's Sprint Prize 2016 in Hong Kong on 1 May and after an unsuccessful return to Australian racing during the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival was retired as the highest-earning Queensland bred racehorse of all time.