Star sprinter Buffering will miss the Stradbroke Handicap with trainer Robert Heathcote not prepared to run him under a big weight.

Buffering has run third at his past two Group One starts at weight-for-age in the BTC Cup and Saturday’s Doomben 10,000.

“The bottom line is the Stradbroke is a handicap and he will get 59 kilograms. He can’t win it with that weight,” Heathcote said.

“Buffering has been beaten at set weights twice by Spirit of Boom but I will have to give him 1.5 kilos.

“He is getting to an age where we have to manage his career and what is the point of sending him around in a race he can’t win.”

“And if Srikandi runs in the Stradbroke he would be giving her anything up to eight kilos.”

Heathcote said Buffering would be sent for a spell and come back to race in the Melbourne spring.

“After that we hope to take on the world’s best in Hong Kong late in the year,” he said.

Heathcote’s decision means Spirit of Boom will be the likely top weight in the Brisbane’s premier sprint on June 7 following his two Group One wins this year.

Buffering has won three Group One races this season in Melbourne and Perth.Buffering to miss Stradbroke Handicap