ROB'S SHOUT - SOMETIMES DREAMS DO COME TRUE
By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, March 1, 2012
Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the multi-premiership winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.
WOORIM … WOORIM … Greg Miles shouted in surprise as the Oakleigh Plate field crossed the line.
Did he see him coming?
I guess it's not hard to figure out a topic for this week's chat!
It was indeed a thrilling win from this exciting galloper who, when he is right, is right up there with the best in the land when circumstances go his way. In fact, I do think it is fair to say that his finishing sprint is as fast as anything in the land barring maybe the great mare, Black Caviar.
The sectionals from the race were quite extraordinary and they give credence to the quality of Woorim's effort.
It was a quality field of crack sprinters missing only a few of the very best in Black Caviar, Hay List and maybe Joe Pride’s gun in Sydney, Rain Affair and, sacre Bleu, I have to throw Buffering in there as well .
It can be argued that there were quite a few hard luck stories in this year's Oakleigh Plate, but the simple facts are that the electronic timing showed Woorim only had one behind him at the 200m mark. Yes, that's right, only one horse behind him with one furlong to go and he got them on the line!
Quite amazing against such quality sprinters!
His final 600 of 33.08, his last 400 in an awesome 21.84 and a final furlong in a sizzling 10.96 are certainly mind blowing figures. I guess those numbers help explain how it was in fact possible for him to run them all down!
The day started as usual with a 3am start for track work at Eagle Farm. Rain and yet more rain made it tough on the staff as happens in the wet. I was only able to get a gallop into the first dozen or so of the horses due to the rain causing the track to chop up pretty quickly.
That's just another example of how disruptive the inclement weather can be. It does affect the training schedules of many horses and that, in turn, can have a dramatic effect on their performance in races?
A quick shower, don the suit and it was off to the airport for the trip to Melbourne for Group 1 racing at Caulfield.
The owners of Woorim, Ross and Judy Cutts who live at Woorim Beach (ok, so you figure out where the name came from) and Damian were all on the same flight south.
We arrived in Melbourne to a hot and sunny day. Temps around the 36/38 mark, but funnily enough it didn't seem so hot as is a much dryer heat than we are used to in Queensland.
We even commented that the heat would surely affect many horses on the day, but I was confident the heat would not be a major factor with Woorim as he is used to it and he has such a calm and relaxed demeanour.
Having plenty of time before the big one allowed me to explore the Caulfield facilities a bit better. Very impressive indeed and that was both the members and the public facilities. I can only dream of such facilities one day being available here in Brisbane at our metropolitan tracks!
The club had set aside a lovely area as the trainers and owners bar under the shade of a huge oak tree looking over the pre race parade win! BRC are planning something similar at Eagle Farm with the old race-day office becoming the owners and trainers bar so they should be applauded for that initiative.
I believe that the owners are still the most important people in racing whilst acknowledging the importance of the punters and the dollars generated through gambling which fund the industry!
Woorim arrived a bit before the two hour pre-race allotted time and he was his usual calm and relaxed self! He settled into his stall and took it all in.
Part of the reason he is so good is this lovely, calm and relaxed demeanour he has. When he gets his feet soaked each day he happily stands there for however long it takes untethered.
We were all a little nervous as the race time got closer but a few cold beers settled the nerves.
I thought Sepoy looked magnificent under saddle in the enclosure so I knew the Darley team had him ready to rumble. Bel Sprinter got himself a bit worked up so he had to be vulnerable and there were plenty of others parading before me who looked in awesome shape, but the heat did cause a few to fizz up a bit!
Brownie wandered out like he was about to ride in a maiden on the cushion track at Caloundra, so relaxed and laid back he is.
We figured he would get run off his legs on Woorim but he understands the basic rule with this horse, just get him to the outside and give him a clear crack at them.
He jumped ok but as is his pattern, he got well back and I thought, struth, we are in trouble here when Damian had to give him a couple so early in the race. With 400m to go Woorim was still last but my eyes were fixed on that orange cap and I still had not seen Brownie move on him.
There was still hope, but when the 200m came and he was still so far back, even I had started to lose faith!
It’s history now that Woorim unleashed as good a run seen at Caulfield in a Group 1 sprint for quite a few years to just nail them on the line.
Ross, Judy, Melissa and myself were all initially excited, then stunned as it seemed he may not have got there but when , and it seemed like an eternity before that the number 4 went up, … well it was just crazy then!
Looking back now it was all a bit of a blur with firstly a TV interview with TVN and then with channel nine and then with hordes of print journalists. I didn't even get a chance to have a word with Damian and the owners until the actual presentation, but I did manage to run over and give Woorim a kiss as he was leaving the enclosure.
He looked like he had pulled up a treat and even the swab guys said he pulled up the best of any of the winners they had swabbed on the day!
Sunday morning showed he had come out of the race in fantastic order. Mel and I were picking him and Buffering on a grassy patch and they were both in a very playful mood!
After the presentation and speeches we were then invited down to the director’s lounge for a celebration drink and to see the race replay. That's when the enormity of what the horse had managed to do hit home to me.
I thought his win in last year's Group 3 Darley Stakes at Doomben was his best ever win but that has now been surpassed.
After watching the Blue Diamond and isn't she something very special indeed? We went back out to the owners/trainers bar for a quiet drink and to reflect. Damian soon joined us and I had to laugh at the story he told us …
Jockeys have to check their mobile phones into the room attendant when they arrive at the track. As Damian went to get his the attendant not recognizing him said 'name'! Damian said Browne and the attendant said I only have one here for Corey Brown. Damian said, ‘that's mine but the name is Damian’.
The attendant said 'what's the difference anyway?". Damian said, ‘the main difference is that I got out on Woorim and Corey didn't!’
Don't you just love that in reference to last year's Stradbroke. We all had a good laugh about that.
We were all due to fly home on the 7pm flight, but Sky had asked me to do an interview with them for Racing Retro so I changed my flight to the following morning.
This enabled me to spend some time with the horses on Sunday morning and have a few celebration drinks that night but I have to admit that the excitement of the long day hit me pretty hard at about 10pm so I went down for the count pretty quick.
I was absolutely overwhelmed with the messages of congratulations after Woorim’s win and the many, many emails waiting for me when I got home to my office.
It's clear that the horse is a very popular 'Queenslander'. Great to hear so many got a nice quid out of him but what about my mate who had a $50 quinella on the first two. He's a bloody genius and about $37grand better off! Easy eh!
I was touched to get messages from so many colleagues in the industry from Graham Begg, Tony Gollan, Kelly Schweida, Barry Baldwin, Lindsay Gough and many, many others. The Brisbane Racing club’s Kev Dixon, CEO Steve Ferguson and his deputy Darren Condon as well as Racing Queensland's Paul Brennan and an absolute host of friends and clients.
I was very moved indeed and I tried to reply personally to all of them to thank them for their congratulations.
I have to make special mention to Ross and Judy Cutts as maybe they won't receive their due accolades for their feat with breeding Woorim. They have owned and raced the sire of Woorim, Show A Heart as well as his dam, Wabble.
To have now bred a Group 1 winner is a real achievement and I know how special it is to them both!
Both Woorim and Buffering will now head onto one of Australia's premier sprint handicaps … the $1 million Newmarket Handicap on March 10. Is it possible to double my number of Group 1s in a fortnight after trying for 15 years?
Why not … but I do know that dreams are free and sometimes........ just sometimes, they do come true!
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