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ROB'S SHOUT - HAPPY TO PUT A BAD WEEK BEHIND ME

By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, May 16, 2013

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, workload permitting.

Hello again,

Last week wasn’t one of my more enjoyable weeks in racing and it certainly didn’t finish on a good note with Buffering failing in the Group 1 BTC Cup. That can happen in racing when things just simply do not go your way.

I sensed things were not looking good when the unpredicted rain just kept falling and the track started to deteriorate so quickly.

Not much went right for Buffering in the big one. He went backwards in the barriers as the start was affected so the timing of the start was the worst it could be for us!

His back legs then went from under him on the sodden track and he was basically off the bit chasing from the get go and his ‘wheels’ were spinning.

I think Brownie best summed the run up when he said the horse never got into his rhythm at any stage throughout the race.

It was an uncharacteristic run from the horse, but that can happen in the unusual circumstances as we saw last Saturday.

Take nothing away from Your Song. He was simply dominant and it’s not possible to be anything but impressed with a win like that in a Group 1 event. He is a deserved favourite for the upcoming Doomben 10,000 and the Stradbroke.

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I am not so sure how much the tough run has taken out of Buffering.

He seems to have come through the race in good order and he is nice and bright and full of enthusiasm and his work has been faultless this week!

I am willing to put his performance down to just ‘one of those things’ that can happen in racing and move onto the next race.

I remain confident that he can bounce back and perform well in his quest for that elusive Group 1 win. I am certainly hoping it will happen but if it does not, it will not diminish my opinion of the little bulldog. He’s a Group 1 horse who has not had a lot go his way and experience has long taught me now that you sometimes need a few favours winning Group 1s.

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The run itself will have ‘hardened’ Buffering up for a big run in the upcoming 10,000 over the 1350. He just got nutted in last year’s race and I believe he is going better so, hopefully, we get a good surface to race on and he can draw a decent gate!

Also on Saturday, I reckon we were stiff not to win the sprint with Griffon when he didn’t get much luck in the running.

He went to the line untested and then Hidden Kisses just went down on the line shortly after that. She is a duffer on the wet track so her effort was full of merit considering the track!

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Part of the ordinary week last week was the issue with Solzhenitsyn when we missed a pay-up for him. That’s behind us now and we head into Saturdays Lord Mayors Cup as the early favourite.

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor, Graham Quirk is a passionate racing man and I would be honoured to win ‘his’ race again!

I think I have the horse to win the race, but first I have to work out whether we go forward or back from the gates?

I reckon that’s the key to the race

A jockey change has taken place with Michael Rodd taking over from Brownie. Primarily as we are now running in the Stradbroke and we wanted Michael to renew his acquaintance with the big Russian as he has won two from two on the big horse and he gets a feel before the big sprint!

The race is tough, but show me an easy race in Brisbane at this time of year! They are all tough and extremely competitive affairs!

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I am hoping that monkey that was on my back last week has now jumped off … maybe he has, because we won a race at the Gold Coast on Wednesday and on a heavy track to boot.

Wow, that’s headline stuff indeed!

Mind you, my barriers for Saturday have not made things easy!

Still, we do the best we can and fingers crossed the weather Gods are much kinder to us this Saturday for what looks like a super day’s horse racing.

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It can be argued that a good thing that came out of last Saturday’s race meeting was the fact that the state of the track at Eagle Farm was highlighted nationally and it let everyone know that it needs urgent replacement.

Nothing against the guys who look after the joint.

They can only work with what they have and the headquarters of Queensland’s racing has not been ‘done up’ for over a 100 years.

Time to fix that!

Regards.

Robert

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Robert Heathcote
Robert Heathcote
Buffering and Brownie make their way out onto the track for the BTC Cup.

It wasn't to be their day!
Buffering and Brownie make their way out onto the track for the BTC Cup.

It wasn't to be their day!
Take nothing away from Your Song. He was simply dominant and it’s not possible to be anything but impressed with a win like that in a Group 1 event
Take nothing away from Your Song. He was simply dominant and it’s not possible to be anything but impressed with a win like that in a Group 1 event
There was no joy for my stable elsewhere on Saturday either.

Griffon (on right of picture above) has nowhere to go and goes to the line untested ...
There was no joy for my stable elsewhere on Saturday either.

Griffon (on right of picture above) has nowhere to go and goes to the line untested ...
... while Hidden Kisses just failed to reel in Cuddlesome by the narrowest of margins
... while Hidden Kisses just failed to reel in Cuddlesome by the narrowest of margins
The Eagle Farm track.

The headquarters of Queensland’s racing has not been ‘done up’ for over a 100 years.

Time to fix that!
The Eagle Farm track.

The headquarters of Queensland’s racing has not been ‘done up’ for over a 100 years.

Time to fix that!
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