ROTHFIRE TAKE 3: THE STORY ISN'T OVER YET

By Graham Potter | Thursday, November 21, 2024

Rothfire … Take 3!

Who would have thought.

The remarkable now seven-year-old son of Rothsay is currently being prepared for another comeback by trainer Robert Heathcote after ten months away from race action.

Arguably no horse has given Heathcote more of a roller-coaster ride than Rothfire … from winning seven of his first eight starts, all the way up to Group 1 success … to suffering a catastrophic injury which looked to be career ending … to finding his way back to racing after a year off following a measured and carefully conducted period of rehabilitation … to still being good enough to win twice at Group 2 level … to suffering another setback which has taken him out of commission for the last ten months.

And yet here Rothfire was, trialling at Doomben on Tuesday and seemingly not missing a beat.

“The trial was a big test. He pulled up brilliant after the trial,” said Heathcote.

“Bailey (Wheeler) rode him well. He looked after him a bit in the run to line. He could have won the trial (Rothfire finished second) and clearly run faster time, but he did all he had to do … so, once again, I think we will see him back at the races.

“I mean the horse just continues to defy logic.
“He has been back in for a while. It has been a slow, steady buildup.

“What I feel has been a huge added bonus to help get him back is that I have got a treadmill in my stable now … an equine treadmill which you can just about get a horse up to a gallop on it.

‘We’ve done an incredible amount of work getting him fit without a jockey on his back … and, of course, the treadmill is a uniform surface so the horse is not putting his hoof in a divot or having to deal with undulations on the track … so, I feel the treadmill has been a huge aid and played a big part in getting him back.

“When he had progressed enough I gave him a really good gallop at Doomben a couple of weeks ago on the course proper one morning. He actually ran 1000m at pretty much race speed, so Tuesday was kinda like an important second trial … and he’s pulled up absolutely brilliant.

“His legs are fine.

“I pretty much knew a couple of weeks back when I gave him that sound, solid hitout and he came through it well … I said, geez, I think we are going to get him back to the races and now he has ticked off another box with the trial.”

That was enough for Heathcote to take the next step and pencil in a proposed racing schedule for Rothfire.

It’s the George Moore, a Group 3 over 1200m on November 30. Rothfire finished second to Zoustyle in last year’s George Moore Stakes when he carried 5kg more than the winner and was only beaten by half-a-length.

Then, all being well, it will be on to the Lough Neagh (a Listed race over 1300m on December 14) and the Buffering (over 1400m on December 28).

“Winning The Buffering will be a real highlight for me, I can tell you,” said Heathcote referring to a race named after a horse he trained who won twenty times, including that amazing international Group 1 success in the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai.

Nobody is looking too much past those three possible starts at this stage, but there is an interesting bit of unfinished business that could be lying in wait.

Rothfire finished third in the 2022 Stradbroke, then finished second in the 2023 Stradbroke. Whether he can advance his cause to have an opportunity to complete that Stradbroke countdown might be a long shot … you could even say ‘unlikely’.

But, then again, ‘unlikely’ is a word that has been used in the same sentence as Rothfire many times before … providing absolutely no anchor to what he has gone on to achieve.