ROB'S SHOUT - ANOTHER STATE, ANOTHER CHALLENGE BUT WE ARE READY FOR THE WEST'S SUPER SATURDAY
By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, November 21, 2013
Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the multi-premiership and Group 1 winning trainer appears exclusively on HRO.
Hello once again and this time it’s from way out West … yes, about as far west as you can go to beautiful Perth.
We are over here with Buffering and Fire Up Fifi to round out their very successful Spring carnivals with, hopefully, further success at Ascot.
Before I comment on their chances let me touch on the couple of very satisfying wins back home last Saturday.
Pinch River looks to be quite an exciting youngster as witnessed by his six length victory to go with his debut dead heat win.
He sure does look to be a very promising youngster with his biggest asset probably being the fact that he just seems to take everything in his stride and he is just a real little professional.
He is going to have to improve another four or five lengths to be anywhere near competitive in his next two assignments but it is already very rewarding to have a probable contender in the big summer feature two-year-old races.
I have now popped him out to Washpool Lodge for a couple of weeks R & R before he comes back to prepare for the Bruce McLachlan feature in late December as the lead up to the Magic Millions classic.
Angie Duncan is already excited to know we have a youngster who’s already qualified for the big feature.
Her husband Neil does some horse riding in the wilderness of the Snowy Mountains at a remote place called Pinch River!
I make no secret that as a trainer I rarely push my two-year-olds but this Denman youngster has been a real revelation.
He just ticks every box as we get to it and the level of improvement from his first run to his 2nd up run was most encouraging.
Young Priscilla Schmidt handled him brilliantly so no surprise ‘Cill’ has racked up about half a dozen city winners this past week or so.
She is riding in brilliant form and she certainly has a promising future.
Speaking of which, what about the ride of our leading apprentice Aidan Holt to squeeze Fillydelphia up the rails for a dominant win in the day’s feature race.
Little wonder the ride got the coveted Courier Mail ride of the day gong from Nathan Exelby.
Aiden is currently leading the overall jockey’s premiership as a claiming apprentice so plenty of accolades due for this feat.
I just hope he keeps his feet on the ground and can really work on his weight management. He is a real riding talent.
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Gee, the win of Fillydelphia brought a smile to my face. A lot of personal satisfaction as this mare has really gone through the wars this past nine months.
She came into me from a spell to be prepared for a Winter Carnival preparation. A couple of days later and she developed a serious problem with her eye.
It seems she had poked herself in the eye with some grass or hay and an ulcer developed.
After initial instable veterinary treatment we determined we were not winning the battle so she was admitted to the Manly Road equine veterinary hospital where she subsequently spent a lengthy period struggling to save the sight in her eye.
Had she lost her sight, her racing career would have been over of course. Fortunately the battle was won to save her vision but at great expense to her caring owners Frank and Pauline who spared no expense to do all that was required.
The mare lost all of her muscle condition so she needed a good spell to get herself back into shape.
She got back into training shape and returned to full training for a planned trip to Sydney.
She raced at Rosehill but she never really coped with the trip away so she again needed some more recovery time back at Washpool Lodge before perhaps one final attempt at getting her back to her best form.
So you can see it was with great relief Aidan found the gap up the rails and punched her through for a dominant win.
I was just so pleased for Pauline and Frank who never lost the faith and also a special mention to her regular track rider Peter Spargo who will attest that she is no angel on the training track.
Yeah, good stuff all round and a special win indeed for those who knew her story.
Fillydelphia has been runner-up in the last two Bernborough Handicaps carrying big weights and we will have another crack this year on the new track at Toowoomba.
Should be a good night. I hope she handles the new track at Toowoomba which is my biggest concern.
Maybe more on that as we get closer!
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I am quite excited about this weekend’s racing.
Sure, there is that very special buzz to have a horse in a Group 1 race but to have two is still ‘pinch me’ stuff and throw in the fact that they are genuine market fancies sure does make all the hard work and the long days and early mornings worth it.
Buffering and Fifi flew from Melbourne on the Singapore airlines shuttle very early on Monday morning.
There were 18 horses on the Air Australian charter flight with 3 horses per each specially designed transport pallet.
The flight took about five hours so all up it was about eight hours stable to stable. A special thank you again to Melissa who again did a super job getting them safely to their stables at Ascot racecourse.
The Perth Racing Club have been brilliant with their organising, their hospitality and their functions make it a real pleasure to be here and I just hope the day’s racing on Saturday matches the excitement of the lead up.
Super Saturday is the West’s showcase raceday and we are all excited to be a part of it.
Little doubt the big sprint which pitches their local superstar Barakey against our ‘Little Bulldog Buffering’ is a marketing dream and the locals will be out in force cheering their star on.
I reckon the Buff will have a few fans as well as I have witnessed this past few weeks since he has elevated himself to possibly the country’s premier sprinter.
Of course it is definitely not a two horse race as the likes of Spirit Of Boom, Moment of Change and the super local mare, Power Princess from the Simon Miller yard will ensure that the winner will have to be right at the top of their game to win.
If my little bloke is to get rolled, I would be happy to see the Boom horse get a well-deserved Group 1 next to his name, but as the Buff had to about 18 times … he will be made to earn it!
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The million dollar Railway Stakes looks to be a horse race which would comfortably sit on any race program across the country.
Some real quality with the recent Emirates runner up in Smokin Joey, along with the best of the west so it sure looks like being a cracker.
Our very own Danny Bougoure’s mare is sure to be a tough mare to beat. She is all quality and I will be the first to shake Danny’s hand if he wins the big one on the day.
Fire Up Fifi seemed to handle the travel like she’s been over here five times previously but she has kinda had that ‘mojo’ about her this entire spring. I reckon she is up to running a big race … hope so anyway.
I stuffed it up by drawing a wide gate so it’s up to Damian now to plot the most economical course he can to get her home.
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It has been a fantastic spring for our stable and any success on the track here in the west would simply be the icing on the cake.
After spending some time with the horses this week, Melissa and I could not be any happier going into Saturdays racing.
One thing is a given though, the locals will not give it up easy and they will be tough to beat!
Cheers for another week.
Regards and good health.
Robert
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