Cover image courtesy of AAP Photos
Bred by the Gleeson family, Rothfire (Rothesay) was purchased sight unseen by Heathcote.
“They have a boutique breeding operation at Chinchilla, which is a bloody long way from Brisbane," said Heathcote. "I’ve trained horses for them before, Jill and Wally and their three boys. One of them, Simon, called me and said we’ve got a Rothesay and he’s not fashionably-bred, but he’s a nice enough horse.
“I said okay, he’ll do for $10,000 and send him to Washpool Lodge to get broken in.”
While the initial purchase price subsequently doubled, Rothfire remains an outstanding piece of business.
“The funny part about it is that I paid the bill twice. They sent me the bill and I paid it the next day and three weeks later they said they had never received the money,” Heathcote said.
“The money had left my account and I got caught in one of those phishing scams where the money went to bloody Nigeria or somewhere.
“I said okay, he’ll do for $10,000 and send him to Washpool Lodge to get broken in.” - Rob Heathcote
“I paid the account twice, but I’ll happily settle for that now he’s won $700,000 odd. The sky is the limit with him,” Heathcote said.
Everest potential
The precocious Rothfire is the latest of his 11 Group 1 winners and, judging by the success of this first campaign, it’s unlikely to his last.
Rothfire | Image courtesy of AAP Photos
“They are hard to come by, but they are very, very sweet that’s for sure,” Heathcote said.
“It’s always a relief and I knew early on that I had a very, very good horse. Until they reach this level and for him to do what he has against a quality field that has a Group 1 tag next to it has stamped him as one of the leading juveniles in the nation.
“He’s come through it well. Races like the G1 Coolmore at Flemington suit and the G2 Roman Consul in Sydney and I’ve had an interview with MiRunners, who is a slot holder for The Everest to see if I would be keen. Literally, the world is this horse’s oyster.”
Travel is nothing new to the Eagle Farm trainer, as Heathcote previously led a transient life as a Contiki guide and tour manager visiting all points of the globe and for a period also managed a ski lodge in Austria.
One of 10 children who grew up in Tasmania, he started his working life as a photo engraver on a local newspaper before embarking on his OE, during which time the racing seed was sown by his older brother Wayne.
“I worked for the Kiwi company Contiki and started way back in the early 1980s. What was going to be a whiz around Europe and chase a few birds and have a drink ended up being a career,” Heathcote said.
“I did that for a bit over 13 years and absolutely loved every minute of it. I met my wife Vicky on one of the tours, she’s a Kiwi from Auckland, and we moved back from London to Brisbane and had two lovely children.
“I’m not from a racing family, although my father did train and race greyhounds when I was a little fellow, and my oldest brother Wayne was always the passionate racing man.
Robert's original career was as a tour guide for Contiki
“He had horses with Tommy Smith, Ernie Smith and Angus Armanasco. When I lived in London I used to travel to the races with Wayne and that spurred my interest in racing.
“When I lived in London I used to travel to the races with Wayne and that spurred my interest in racing.” – Rob Heathcote
“When I came back to Australia I managed his racing interests and that led on to me getting my training licence and having a go at it. It’s been a wonderful career to me.”
A common sense approach
Heathcote is the first to admit he had no hands-on experience when he started training and took a common sense approach and wasn’t afraid to pick the brains of others.
“I was limited, I had zero experience. I had never worked in a stable and it’s fair to say I learned out of text books,” he said.
“I have made the comment plenty of times that I made a lot of mistakes in the early days and I always tried not to make them twice.
“I was a voracious reader and asked questions of everybody I could, just trying to get my head around it and it’s been a wonderful profession.”
One top Queensland trainer in particular was an invaluable source of knowledge for a hungry Heathcote.
“Bruce McLachlan was very good to me. I would sidle up to him at the races whenever the opportunity arose and have a drink and fire the questions at him,” he said. “He was only too willing to give me help and advice, he was fantastic.
“I’ve been training since 1997 and I was late into my profession, but if you love what you do you never work a day in your life.
“Horses are such beautiful animals and I’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of very good ones through the years.”
“Horses are such beautiful animals and I’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of very good ones through the years.” – Rob Heathcote
Heathcote was already well-established as a premier trainer in Queensland when Buffering came along. Seven Group 1 victories were to follow with stakes success across three states.
Buffering winning the G2 Roman Consul S.
Further afield, Buffering won the G1 Meydan Al Quoz Sprint and made two trips to Hong Kong with a best finish of sixth in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint.
Now Heathcote harbours similar hopes with Rothfire, who has gone to the paddock with six wins and a runner-up finish from his seven 2-year-old starts.
“He’s got such a beautiful demeanour and is a cool, calm and collected horse,” he said. “He’s quickly out of the gates and travels on speed.
“He can win at a 1000 metres, he can win at 1400 metres and he’ll get further. “He’s bloody quick as well so he’s got all the right attributes.”
