ROB'S SHOUT - WE ARE EXCITED AT HEATHCOTE RACING
By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, October 11, 2012
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.
The focus of attention for Aussie racing on the weekend is definitely at Caulfield with some great racing scheduled. Group 1 racing … and do ya think we are excited at Heathcote Racing!
We have the favourite in Buffering lining up in the Group 2 Schillaci dash over a 1000m and Solzhenitsyn is second favourite in the time honoured Group 1 Toorak Handicap behind the great mare, More Joyous who’s an odds on chance!
Buffering has recovered well from his pretty tough first up win in the Moir Stakes but that was not without a huge hiccup when he was given his Hong Kong travel vaccinations.
After a real scare where he got a bit crook, he has rebounded well and I was over the moon with his track work gallop on Tuesday at Flemington.
Not only did he work well in running 23 secs for his last 400 with Melissa swinging off him, his post work recovery was almost instant. Coming back through the middle all he was intent on doing was stopping for a pick of grass.
The primary goal of spending some time with him on Monday and Tuesday was to just see how the horse is in himself, his attitude and his general well-being. I am now very confident he will be going into the race in great order.
Of course he already has well proven and established strengths. His genuine top class ability, his high cruising speed and his ability to quicken off that speed, his tenacity under pressure and his reliability … all attributes which say he will be very hard to beat!
Of course it will not be easy and if there is one vulnerability going into the race it may well be the drop back to the 1000m after his tough first up win over the 1200 trip!
There are some very quick horses in this Group 2 race and the possibility of having a tough run always exists from an awkward gate.
Moody is the maestro of Caulfield so I have huge respect for his runner Golden Archer and Pampelonne and Spirit Of Boom will be charging late.
The tempo of the race looks like being strong but I am total confidence in our jockey making the right call. Hughie Bowman … or Joe Cool as we like to call him … is the best judge of speed in the country so he will make a judgment call shortly after the gates open.
Buffering has only had the one race start at Caulfield and it was one of his two race day failures from his twenty-plus starts. He was off colour that day and even his coat was dull so we think he had a bug when Sepoy smashed him.
He bounced back off that run and ran second to Black Caviar in the Group 1 Patinack. I am confident he can race well on the track.
The win is always the desired result and we would probably be disappointed if Buffering didn't win the race, but the reason for running him here is to ensure we have him at his peak for his date with Group 1 destiny in the Manikato in another two weeks time.
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Solzhenitsyn is chapter two on our ‘group double header’ on Saturday. He has done super since his very promising first attempt in Group 1 company.
He worked with one of John Saddler’s horses on Tuesday on the steeple grass at Flemington and I was delighted with the work. In particular it was his attitude to his work which pleased me the most.
He can be a right lazy sod at times but he's got a real strut about him at the moment and Melissa is convinced he can run a blinder on Saturday.
The step up to the mile is the huge plus for 'The Big Russian' as I have always suspected this as his best distance. Corey Brown was chuffed with his first ride on the horse and he was very quick to claim the ride after the Sir Rupert Clarke third placing as he ran right through the line and his last 100 was definitely his best!
Of course he takes on More Joyous. Timeform's Gary Crispe said More Joyous can stand alongside Sunline and The Diva with a history-smashing win in the Toorak Handicap at Caulfield on Saturday.
No mare since Pendant, who won the Newmarket Handicap with 60.5kg in 1906, has lumped more weight to victory than the 60kg More Joyous will carry in the Toorak; not Makybe Diva or Sunline, who both carried 58kg to major handicap wins.
Ratings aside, Crispe said More Joyous should be ranked in the Sunline and Makybe Diva class, even be considered in the same stratosphere as Black Caviar, if she can win the Toorak and Cox Plate at her next two starts.
Peter Moody said More Joyous has always seemed to live in the shadows."She's a great, great mare," Moody said. "But she's first lived in Black Caviar's shadow and now she even seems to be in the shadow of her stable-mate Pierro.
Steve McKee, who co-trained the immortal Sunline with his father Trevor, said More Joyous had now reached the status only achieved by the greats of the turf. Steve will saddle up the evergreen King Mufasa.
Both the Champion mare and King Mufasa have to concede 8 kilos to the lower weighted horses so maybe they are vulnerable?
I still think More Joyous will win but for sure our lad will be giving it his best shot!
The plan and main goal for Solzhenitsyn has always been the Emirates mile at Flemington on the big track, but that is still a month away so if all goes well with
Solzhie after Saturday’s run, he will go to Moonee Valley to run in the Waterford Crystal mile on the way to the Emirates.
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Fillydelphia left us all scratching our heads after her failure at home last week. The vet found her lame after the race but subsequent vet tests, a series of x-rays and blood tests have failed to pin point any specific problem.
I don't know if that's a good thing or not but I will take her back to the races and, whilst caution will very much be the order of the day for punters, she will be fully vetted again before she takes her place! Her work at home has been good though.
One of my all time personal favourite horses returns to the track on Saturday.
Funtantes has brought us a lot of real fun times and whilst her racing career is slowly coming to an end, her consistent and gallant last preparation showed she still has the desire to want to be competitive.
She lines up against a couple of very handy horses in Theft and Morning Captain. She will need to be at the top of her game to knock off these two up-and-coming good horses but she is as game as they come!
I have been delighted with her lead up work and whilst she goes into this without a trial or a jump out, this is a strategy I have successfully used in the past.
Best of luck if you are having a punt over the weekend.
Cheers.
Robert
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