ROB'S SHOUT - IT IS GREAT TO SEE QUEENSLANDERS MAKING THEIR MARK DOWN SOUTH
By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, October 25, 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.
Hello again,
Wasn't it fantastic to see the Queensland horses do well in the national stage … Liam Birchley's mare, Whateverwhenever taking her excellent Brisbane form south to win a Group 3 race on Caulfield Cup day, Bryan Dais picking up a group placing with his new stable acquisition in Latin News and the highlight perhaps being the scintillating performance of Kelly Schweida's Better Than Ready to set a new Randwick track record in winning the Listed Brian Crowley Stakes.
There was also nearly another stakes win for Tony Gollan at Randwick also when his charge just got nailed on the line after a perfect ride from our local hoop, Ricky McMahon.
I think it is fantastic for Queensland racing to see the local horses compete well interstate and especially at this time of year during the Spring Carnival. It sure did make me very proud when Big Solzhenitsyn and Buffering stepped onto to the national stage a couple of weeks ago and showed the 'Mexicans' we are no pushovers … and whilst we will never match them in numbers of quality horses, we can at times match them for quality!
I really hope Kelly decides to take Better Than Ready onto the Group 1 Coolmore Stakes at Flemington which would give us a strong hand in the Group 1 with Kelso's little champ, Sizzling already lining up for the straight six dash.
The track record that Kelly's horse took was from Northern Meteor who went on to win the Coolmore. I certainly understand if Kelly takes the more conservative path and gives the horse a break so we will then have to cheer Kelso's champ on!
It's all good stuff and whilst we can never fully match the glitz and glamour of their carnivals, it's great to see the local horses, trainers and jockeys doing well.
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It has been another very busy week for me with commutes to Melbourne and back to watch the three stable stars go through their paces at Moonee Valley for
the ‘Breakfast with the best’ session on Tuesday morning. It was really their final bit of good work before they line up for the races on the weekend.
Buffering and Excellantes worked strongly together around the unique track and I was delighted how Excellantes seemed to cope with the track. Buffering is an old master on the track now, already with a couple of wins under his belt.
Solzhenitsyn followed a Cox Plate aspirant around … about 50m behind him. The 'Big Russian' can be a real lazy bugger in his work, but he's ok if he can see something in front of him to follow.
I was satisfied with what he did and Melissa has given 'Group 1 Solzhie' the thumbs up for his race on Saturday.
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After the track work session and the horses were safely in their boxes having breakfast, Melissa and I headed back to the Valley for the all-important barrier draw for the Manikato and of course the weekend’s feature race, The Cox Plate.
There was a fantastic turnout and I estimate there would have been a 1000 patrons at the breakfast. Many of the past and present 'stars' of racing were there and the event was filmed live by TVN to a national audience . It sure does add to the atmosphere of what is certainly building up to an amazing weekend of racing at this extraordinary racing venue.
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It was essential in my view that I drew a good barrier for Buffering in the big sprint. Bruce Harry surely had me in his sights after he had drawn the car park for us in the Stradbroke.
I was over the moon to have selected the ace barrier for Buffering in the big sprint. This has definitely increased his winning chances as he can ping the gates and take up his customary leading role and we know he is always a tough little bulldog to get past.
Buff showed in the Schillaci that he is a bit more versatile as he gets older and more experienced and his jockey, the unflappable Hugh Bowman, can determine exactly how much work the horse has to do! I rate Hugh as one of the best judges of tempo in the land and my confidence is high that the well-deserved Group 1 win for Buffering is just a little bit closer!
I am not going to go into the tactics too much but our game plan will be pretty simple … be first home!
There is no such thing as 'an easy group 1' and this will be no different and Buffering will have to turn up on the night at a one hundred percent and with his 'A' game intact!
Sea Siren already has a win over Buffering and the money for Lone Rock suggests they are confident of a win. Ready To Rip hit the line hard in the Moir so he will be thereabouts again and the Boom horse is sure to have taken improvement out of his Schillaci run!
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Excellantes is asked to carry the big weight of 60 kilos on Friday night and I will not be surprised if he can do it and win.
Handling the quirky track is more of an unknown in my eyes but I was delighted with how well he looked and he is sure to strip a lot fitter than his Gilgai run. He can be a very nice 'appetiser' for the Manikato a couple of races later.
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Saturday … Cox Plate Day. I have never actually been to a Cox Plate meeting so I am excited to not only be there but to have a runner on the day and in a group race.
Solzhenitsyn has done really well since his Toorak win. It's a big ask to go from the 52 kgs he carried to victory up to the 59 under the Weight-For-Age
conditions.
I have always maintained that this horse’s biggest asset is in fact his strength and not his speed so I am confident he can carry the weight and still be very competitive. He has already won at WFA and he carries weight well so, if he can handle the track and he has the much needed luck in the run, he can again figure in the finish.
This may 'only' be a Group 2 race but have a look at the field … it is good enough to be a Group 1 race! Only a small field but a quality one. Barrier 1 … so not sure of our tactics in this one, maybe even lead?
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From last week, I was delighted to see a welcome return to form from the good mare Fillydelphia. Her winning just shows that sometimes horses can have off days and put in less than satisfactory performances.
At her first up run, she ran last as the favourite and whilst the club vet said she was lame after the race, the subsequent veterinary investigations failed to find
any specific reason or causes for her performance so I decided to head back to the races where she put it all together.
I was hopeful she would perform well as everything on the training track suggested she would. Perhaps that is just a reminder that they are only flesh and blood and always capable of form turnarounds for unexplainable reasons at times as was the case here. If they were push button and ALWAYS ran to their very best ALL of the time, well, it would then be too easy eh?
Horse racing is a sport/business with an incredible amount of variables which makes it so fascinating and perhaps impossible to ever fully master or understand due to this fact.
So often the many variables require a huge slice of luck to bring the 'stars in alignment' to allow horses to win as predicted or expected. Favourites are favourites because they seem have a few more stars aligned than other horses in the field. It certainly does not always mean they will win!
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It sure is an exciting time of the year in racing, especially in Melbourne. Not just on the track with the excitement of the racing action but also socially. There are many racing functions most weeks and other special events.
It was great to have a nice celebration dinner with the Melbourne owners of Solzhenitsyn. Our Melbourne hosts, John and Glen Thompson joined us as did Group 1 winning trainer Steve Farley who puts the polish on Sincero who is lining up in the Cox Plate.
They are saying this year’s Cox plate is a vintage race with so many chances and probably so many unanswered questions going into the race. It is sure to
be a high pressure race and whilst I would love to see Sincero win it, I think one of the three-year-olds will win!
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My stable is going into the big weekend riding a wave of confidence coming off a nice winning treble at Eagle Farm on Wednesday.
We believe we have our charges at the top off their game so it’s all systems go for what we hope will be a Group winning weekend!
Kind regards and good health to you all.
Robert
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