ROB'S SHOUT - AN ENORMOUS THRILL
By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, March 15, 2012
Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the multi-premiership and Group 1 winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.
Buffering's effort to run the best male sprinter in the world to a half-head in the Newmarket is right up there with Woorim's Oakleigh Plate win for me personally.
Put quite simply, it was an enormous thrill!
I think the Chief handicapper of the VRC best summed it up after the race when he said Hay List's win was one of the greatest-ever performances in the Newmarket.
"It's a great moment in racing at Flemington," Greg said.
"We are really appreciative the connections decided to take up the challenge (with the weight) because otherwise they would have been deprived of probably one of the great moments they will ever have in horseracing."
The Queenslanders went enormous in the big sprint with Jason McLachlan's Phelan Ready storming home from last with Woorim to run fourth and fifth respectively. Tony Gollan's Temple Of Boom also ran a big race, although his jockey admitted he made an early tactical error which saw him back further than he needed to be.
I know the result meant a lot to me, but isn’t it great to see young Tony and Jason also doing so well on the National stage. Great for Queensland!
Jockey Michael Rodd very nearly paid us back in a million dollar race after missing out in last spring's Emirates! His comments about Buffering post race were very appropriate.
"I can't compliment this horse enough,” said Michael. “He is very underrated. He came out today and performed well again like first-up. The weight obviously helped but he is flying."
Yes, Hay List did indeed have his day in the sun and richly deserved his big sprint win.
It's been over fifty years since any horse carried that kind of weight to win the biggest sprint in the land.
The trainer of Hay List gave the handicapper a spray for giving him the 58.5 kilos but, in hindsight, the handicapper was proven to be correct…. by half a head!
Buffering has now been placed four times in Group 1’s behind the two best sprinters in the world. I have little doubt that Bufferings 'day in the sun' will come one day and hopefully it is soon.
Buffering is only four years old and I believe his best racing is still ahead of him!
Racing at this level and the enormous effort these horses put in can be very taxing both physically and mentally and it’s vital that the best interests of the horse are always of prime importance.
Woorim’s effort was once again huge and his final sectional was the fastest of the twenty-two runners. He really hit the line hard and as his owner said to Damian after the race, it was a great Doncaster trial!
The race was not run to suit Woorim as he needed the field to bunch up instead of spreading right out across the track, but his effort up the straight six for the first time was a super effort! I feel he is a much better race horse around a bend!
Both Woorim and Buffering have come out of the race in great order, although Woorim gave us a little scare when he came out of the race with a black eye … but the vet has given him the all clear and he's fine now!
The plan is now to take them both onto the Group 1 William Reed at Moonee Valley on Friday night, the 23rd March.
That will be some great racing theatre once again as it looks like we will be bumping into Hay List once again. Damn it! Still, you cannot win any race leaving them home in their box so our lads will take on the giant again!
I am very privileged to have two wonderful horses in Woorim and Buffering who can compete successfully on the National stage! Yes, a shame to have them in an era of Black Caviar and Hay List but I wouldn't swap a thing!
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It was incredible to see Hay List arrive on course at Flemington!
He walked past me with his trainer like he had just walked off a space ship! The horse was wearing the new 'compression suit'!
It certainly looks strange so I followed him and took a couple of photos. It is like a wetsuit or a skin-suit that we often see athletes wear!
Maybe it works. I don't know. It's a new one on me!
John McNair couldn't find his stall for Hay List because incredibly they had not allocated the horse one.
Whoops.
I asked John how he felt and he said he was pissed off walking his champ around looking for a spare stall, so I suggested he put him back onto the float and go home!
A shame for me he didn't … but John did see the humour in my comment!
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I have since been asked to answer the following question with regards to Buffering!
How would I feel wearing a top hat and tails at Royal Ascot?
Wow, that's some crazy stuff to all of a sudden have a horse that may well be considered to be, in the eyes of some racing 'experts', the third best sprinter in Australia.
He couldn't even win the two-year-old QTIS Horse Of The Year after winning his first four races including a feature QTIS 600 race! From memory it went to a Clang horse???
My first comment to the top hat and tails at Royal Ascot is that for the time being the preferred option is the 'chow Mein and chopsticks' of Hong Kong!
I would dearly love to take a horse to the 'Old Dart' as I used to live just up the road from Ascot in a suburb of West London called Ealing for twelve years.
I had the pleasure of attending the races at Royal Ascot on a number of occasions so yes, it really is an exciting spectacle and I can fully understand the desires of the connections of Black Caviar to want the thrill of being at the very top of the racing world as far as the 'establishment' is concerned!
And why not? She has nothing else to prove and I don't think that the money is actually an issue as she would earn more staying at home!
Meet the Queen … again why not? I would love to do it myself one day if the opportunity arose! I used to drive past her house (Buckingham Palace) on my way to work!
I am a bit the same as the BC connections to be honest and the thrill of an international trip is certainly a juicy carrot and the Hong Kong trip in November 2102 is certainly alluring at this stage as the main priority for the Buffering camp!
A million bucks up for grabs as well as a trip of a life time to play on the international stage, yeah, it sure is an enticing carrot.
As I mentioned earlier, Buffering has yet to win a Group 1 but he's placed four consecutive times behind Black Caviar and Hay List in Group 1s so maybe that's not so bad on his resume!!! I would think he is entitled to an invitation?
Woorim, well he’s already a Group One star so the option of a trip away is there for him too!
Gee, they are such close buddies … so the 1400 for Woorim on the same day in Honkers might just work as well!
Wow, what a thought!
Robert
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