ROB'S SHOUT - ANOTHER GROUP 1 TRIUMPH AS BUFFERING CONTINUES TO WRITE HIS OWN HEADLINES
By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, November 28, 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 appears exclusively on HRO.
Unbelievable stuff!
We would have started the season happy for Buffering to win his first Group 1 … and now he has got three on the trot.
Marvellous game this racing.
I sometimes worry about the fact that I keep talking about Buffering but I am constantly requested for the behind the scenes view from readers of this website so I am happy to do that … and why shouldn’t I be?
Three Group 1 wins at three different tracks in thirty days! Can it get any better than that?
Buffering doesn’t only win though, he thrills … be it with a sustained gallop that leaves his rivals gasping for air or be it with that steely determination that thwarts even the strongest challenge. You know you are in for some sort of adrenaline rush from this thoroughly enthralling ‘entertainer’.
And so it was off to the West to take on their local star who had been unbeaten in his home state.
The hospitality given to us by the locals was overwhelming. Sure, they were happy to have the ‘Eastern Staters’ as they refer to us which help form part of their super Saturday and it was a privilege in my view to have runners in their two feature races … Buffering in the Crowne Winterbottom Sprint and Fire Up Fifi in the million dollar Railway.
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Both horses travelled brilliantly in the five hour flight over and settled in nicely in Glen McTaggart’s local stables next to the Ascot race track.
It’s always a bit of an unknown when horses have to travel so far so it was a relief when Melissa reported they had done it ‘on their ear’!
It was a short walk to the track each morning after their few blocks of warm up walking. We elected not to gallop on their Tuesday ‘breakfast with the stars’ opting to do a bit of work on the Wednesday as did most of the visitors due to the long trip over on the Monday.
There was a real air of expectation at the track and a buzz of excitement in the lead up to their feature day.
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The barrier draw function big breakfast on the Tuesday morning was well attended with live racing radio conducting interviews with many of the key participants on the super Saturday. I totally stuffed up Fifi’s draw opting to go for the ‘one in the middle’ instead of either side and I came up with gate 18.
Either side was 5 and 7 so I thought I may have made a Steve Waugh ‘ you just dropped the world cup’ moment there. Bugger, but little we could do about that.
The sprint draw was done at Crowne Casino on the Tuesday night and the Buff connections were hoping to be inside of Barakey but I again dropped the catch coming up with 8. It was all up to Damian Browne now to overcome my errors!
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After Wednesday morning track work, my wife and I along with Tony Gollan and his fiancée, Jane made the trip down to Margaret River to enjoy the scenery and sample some of their famous wines.
We certainly didn’t do the trip proper justice only allowing the one night but it is truly a beautiful part of the world and maybe on another trip west we can spend a bit more time.
We each arranged for some nice wines to be sent back home to be enjoyed at a later date.
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Back to the races and the tension and excitement certainly reached fever pitch with a picture perfect day and a real quality program of racing.
The Perth club officials were excellent hosts and really looked after the connections of the visiting runners appreciating the efforts to bring their horses over from the East.
The morning of the race created what I thought was a comical situation.
As is normal in most jurisdictions now, security guards are placed with horses in Group ones from a certain time. When the Fire Up Fifi guard arrived, Melissa had just given her a shampoo and took her off on her morning 40 minute walk around the Ascot streets.
Yes, it was already pretty warm and the less than athletic security guard was obliged to walk with us! Well after a couple of ‘big blocks’ he steadily dropped off the pace and was at one stage heard gasping ‘ I only walk to the letter box’!
After four big laps Mel took Buffering back to the stables and I gave Fifi one final powerwalk lap. I reckon ‘Rahul’ came in about 400m behind us. The heavily perspiring guard then explained, ‘what I am going to do know, my drinks and my lunch are in the car back at the track and I can’t leave the horses?’
Vicky and I took sympathy on him and walked back to the track to get his car. He sure was thankful!
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There was still a lot of conjecture pre-race as to the riding tactics likely to be adopted by the main fancies in the rich Winterbottom sprint.
I had played my hand early stating that Buffering would do what he always does and that would be to go forward and run the race at a true tempo.
That was also to perhaps ‘bluff’ the others into allowing Buffering to lead without a fight and after hearing the trainer of Barakey say moments before the race that they were planning on taking a trail behind the Buff, well, I thought it had worked.
As it panned out that did not happen with Barakey’s rider forcing the issue with Damian which consequently saw Buffering’s rider ‘tighten’ Jason Browne on Barakey which, in turn, saw Spirit Of Boom severely checked.
This obviously had a effect on my good mate Tony’s chances and Spirits run was huge under the circumstances.
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I do know it was obviously not intentional from Damian to cause such interference as he simply did not expect Nicholas Hall to have pushed up inside of Barakey.
I could see throughout the run that Barakey had made Buffering do a fair bit of work and I was praying his well renown fighting qualities would come to the fore. After working so hard for the first 600 I knew it would be tough for the little bulldog to hang on.
Like everyone, when they hit the line I knew it was a tight finish but my gut instincts were that we had held on for an amazing triple Group 1 win.
Check out the photo finish … wow, that’s gotta be the closest finish I have ever been in and WON outright … even though I have had a few dead heats!
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Time seemed to fly by with the Winterbottom presentations and the next thing I knew Fire Up Fifi was in the enclosure getting ready for the Railway.
Our grey mare ran an absolute blinder and with about a 100m to go I fleetingly thought we had pulled off the unbelievable … A Group 1 double … but her efforts to run a close third nonetheless left us extremely proud of her.
After the celebrations at the race track we all headed back to the Crowne Casino where the hospitality provided by Lonnie Bossie and his staff was outstanding.
They had reserved a section in the Merrywell bar in the Casino exclusively for the Buffering and Fire Up Fifi crew. We had an absolute ball and Lonnie’s hospitality at Crowne simply topped off a fantastic week for us. Thank You So Much ‘CROWNE PERTH’.
Perth has certainly left me with very fond memories.. Sure, winning makes it easier but that aside, the locals were genuinely pleased to have us visitors there and treated us so very well.
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The only sour note of course was the suspension and fine for our jockey Damian Browne.
The one month suspension AND a fine of five thousand dollars was, in my opinion, a very harsh penalty and a topic of heated debate depending on how you viewed it.
I was quite touched when the owners of Buffering decided to ‘sling’ Brownie the 5k for his ‘good’ ride on Buffering.
Sprit Of Boom’s connections have every right to feel aggrieved but I know Damian Browne showed no malicious intent even if the stewards deemed him to be the culprit.
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Both Buffering and Fifi knew they had raced and they did come out of their races with some ‘war wounds’.
They have been subsequently treated and the first leg of their return journey home took place on Tuesday with their flight to Melbourne. They are now due back into Brisbane on Friday before enjoying some well-deserved R & R at washpool Lodge.
No doubt Melissa will also enjoy being back home after the bulk of the spring away and what a fantastic job Mel has done. Four Group 1 wins and a Group 2 and numerous G1 placing’s.
Super stuff Mel.
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The other stable Spring star, Solzhenitsyn has had his throat operation and he is currently ‘convalescing’ at my home stables.
He was ‘scoped’ again this morning by the vet surgeon and so far we are very happy with the results of his surgery.
He will stay with me for another few weeks before enjoying a spell so the Sydney Autumn carnival may be beyond him but we are certainly a likely chance to be back racing in our winter carnival.
I have race plans already mapped out for the ‘Buff’ and Fifi but that’s for down the track after a good spell.
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Plenty of flying miles this spring and this weekend again sees me away, this time in Tasmania, my home state to help celebrate the birthday of the most amazing woman in my life.
My mother turns 94 on Saturday.
Now that really is a Group 1 effort after bringing up 10 kids in a country town in Tassie.
Until next time.
Good health and take care.
Robert
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