ROTHFIRE ASTOUNDS YET AGAIN

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Seems you can’t keep a good horse down. Well, that’s the case with Rothfire at least ... down and out on Friday. Getting ready to get back in the game just three days later.

It’s been a quite amazing seventy-two hours for the stable.

Last Friday was not a good day for trainer Robert Heathcote when, not for the first time, it emerged that the racing future of his stable star Rothfire was again under a cloud.

The news, which came out of left field, certainly looked bleak.

“He had galloped on Tuesday, and he went super. It was a very restrained, easy gallop. He pulled up super. Wednesday morning he was fine. Thursday morning he was fine, then Friday morning we discovered the injury,” explained Heathcote.

“When we went to get him out of his box on Friday, Rothfire presented with a fetlock joint that was probably fifty-percent swollen. It was the size of your head.”

It was a deflating moment for Heathcote and Rothfire’s connections, to the degree that it left Heathcote wondering if the day he had dreaded for so long had arrived and Rothfire’s career might be over.

“I remember the vet’s comments when he saw Rothfire. He said, ‘Rob, on face value ... going on his history ... he’s run his last race. Right there and then, for all intents and purposes, he had run his last race,” continued Heathcote.

But a more specific diagnosis had still to be confirmed and treatment was immediately undertaken to try and help resolve the matter one way or the other.

“The vet said to us ... treat him with ice therapy all weekend,” continued Heathcote. “Well, we did. A young staff member of mine ... Sophie Northdurft ... spent the entire weekend with him. Ice on. Ice off. Ice on. Ice off.

“Come Sunday, I started to see some dramatic improvement. Then, Sunday night, I couldn’t believe it. I called my vet and said, ‘you had better come in here tomorrow morning’. He said, ‘yeah, we are. We are coming to scan him.’ I said, ‘well wait till you see him!’

“The vet looked at the leg on Monday morning and he said, ‘is this the right horse?’ He said, ‘in forty years of being in veterinary practice I have not seen a leg go from as big as it was to what it is now in such a short space of time.’

“Then, so importantly, he added that because it had come down so quickly it suggested that there is no structural damage to the inside of the joint, but there must have been something to cause it to come up.

“Whether he just gave it a bit of a wrench ... or whether he did it paying around in his box because he is a playful bugger ... or whether he reared up and landed awkwardly on it, we just don’t know ... but, suddenly we were now moving beyond that.

“The vet said let’s trot him up. We trotted him up and down in the stables for five minutes and he is as sound as he has ever been.

“The vet then suggested that I give Rothfire a little trot and canter this morning (Tuesday) just to see if he can carry his own body weight comfortably ... and he said he would then want to see if there is any difference to his joint after his work.

“Well guess what? There’s none.”

It is almost like the whole thing didn’t happen.

“Look, I’m not saying he’s going to be racing in the Carnival. That might still be a consideration now though, whereas on Friday it was completely out of the question.

“I’m taking each day as it comes, but I’m very happy.

“I mean on Friday morning he was retired and now he could be a starter in the Doomben 10 000 ... that’s how much things have changed, but the bottom line remains ... and people need to know this ... that Rothfire is loved to death and we would never do anything contrary to his health and well-being. We will weigh up any decision on what we do next very carefully.

“Like I said, we will take it one day at a time.’

“I admit I was dead set convinced on Friday that he had run his last race ... one hundred percent, hand on my heart ... and I know I might look like a fool, retiring the horse one day in my mind and then maybe nominating him a couple of weeks later ... but I’m more than happy to take it that way.

“It’s an extraordinary story,” continued Heathcote. “I’ve called him a miracle horse so many times because of all he went through before and the adversity he overcame.

“Whether Rothfire races again or not, he will have a happy and healthy retirement ... but, who knows, it looks like the door might have just been opened for another chapter is about to be added to his story.”
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It has been well documented that, back in September 2020, Rothfire suffered a sickening, severe sesamoid injury during the running of the Group 1 Golden Rose at a time when his career was flying and he about to line up for a tilt at the then $14 The Everest.

That unfortunate outcome seemed to suck all the life out of his future prospects as a racehorse as well as, up until then, the justifiable ambitions of his connections.

At the time many accepted outright that it was a career ending injury. Few would have bet on him being able to return to action ... and while that rehabilitation did take a full twelve months, Rothfire not only made it back into racing, resuming in September 2021, but, in the ensuing two-and-a-half years he has continued to perform at the highest level like the top tier horse he is against the likes of Imperatriz, Giga Kick and Think About It.

That second phase of his career have actually been quite remarkable.

And, while the rebound from swollen fetlock story might still have to run its course, the chance is alive again that Rothfire still has some unfinished business to attend to.
Not least to complete his countdown to Stradbroke success.

Rothfire finished third in the 2022 edition of the Stradbroke (behind Alligator Blood), second in the 2023 Stradbroke (behind Think About It) and if he could round off that 3-2-1 result, his story would become even more phenomenal.

The Stradbroke may only be seven weeks away and it will be a hard task for Rothfire to salute in Queensland signature race even if he does get there ... which remains uncertain.

Two things are certain though.

While Rothfire is still in the game you can never count him out ... and, whenever the final curtain does come down on his career, he will move off centre stage having done himself, his trainer and his owners proud.
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