THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - BUFFERING IS DOING QUEENSLAND PROUD

By Graham Potter | Sunday, September 30, 2012

When a horse never dodges a battle, even when on occasions the pre-race odds seem to be stacked against him, and when he never flinches in the heat of big race action when the fight is at its fiercest, that horse is worthy of every respect.

Queensland currently has such a horse carrying its flag into the centre of the melting pot that is the spring-time carnival down south in the form of the Robert Heathcote trained Buffering who, on Friday night at Moonee Valley, once again showed why he is such a formidable racehorse.

The Queensland Horse Of the Year landed the Group 2, Moir Stakes with a characteristic, spirited performance. Not well away at the break, Buffering still found enough early speed to push into the lead and once there … well, we all know that race position is something he does not surrender easily. No surprise then that Buffering was never headed and the result went into the record books the way the betting suggested it would.

It was a good start to Buffering’s five-year-old season … incidentally, the gelding has now won first-up in five of his six career campaigns.

Buffering didn’t blitz his rivals. If he had the stable might have been worried he was too far ahead of schedule in a campaign whose whole outline is designed with one outcome in mind … for the horse to land that elusive Group 1 success.

That current omission from Buffering’s resume has not come about through any lack of effort on his part. Buffering has locked horns with the best in the business in the eleven Group 1’s he has already contested.

On no less than four occasions Buffering has finished as runner-up, behind the likes of Black Caviar, Hay List, Seas Siren and Midsummer Magic. He has also finished third in three Group 1’s, twice behind the brutal Black Caviar / Hay List combination, and he has finished fourth in a further three Group 1’s in races won by Sepoy, Sincero and Star Witness. Only one unplaced effort in eleven Group 1’s, with a clear excuse on that occasion, is no mean effort in itself!

In some ways it is unusual for a trainer to not shy away from horses that are supposedly unbeatable … like Black Caviar and, to a degree, Hay List, but full credit must go to Heathcote for plotting the route he has taken. As good as he is in his own right, Buffering’s reputation has been largely built on his readiness to go toe to toe with the best and offer and his ability to not only to take a punch, but to throw one back.

As a two-year-old Buffering was undefeated in his four starts before running third to Pressday in his first Group 2 contest. He has certainly translated that early promising into an even more telling form-line which currently boasts ten wins and eleven places from twenty-seven starts of which no less than twenty starts have been in Group company.

On that journey Buffering has earned $1.8 million in stakes. Not a bad record for a $22 000 purchase.

It is difficult to imagine a horse more deserving of a Group 1 honour.

Given that fact, it would only be fitting if all Queenslanders get behind him and follow his progress as he homes in on his target.

In a sport of diverse opinions … there can be no argument here.

Buffering is doing Queensland proud!

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