Written by Jess Owers
A little after first light at Eagle Farm on Tuesday, local trainer Robert Heathcote was on-hand with Rothfire (Rothesay). The 3-year-old gelding was having his first stiff gallop since a sesamoid fracture and surgery last September, and it went famously.
“I planned to give him a gallop, but not as intense as it turned out to be,” Heathcote said. “He’s basically had intense rehabilitation for the last nine months, and I got him up to three-quarter gallop stage about a month ago and then put him in the paddock for a little breather.”
Heathcote was aware of the psychological consequences of catastrophic injury, and he's been working on the horse's confidence.
“Any horse that suffers an orthopaedic injury as serious as this horse did, it can have a mental effect on them,” the trainer said. “But this morning, it was like he told us that he wanted to rock and roll.”
“Any horse that suffers an orthopaedic injury as serious as this horse (Rothfire) did, it can have a mental effect on them. But this morning, it was like he told us that he wanted to rock and roll.” - Robert Heathcote
Taylor Marshall piloted Rothfire at Eagle Farm. He’s a seasoned, natural lightweight, which was helpful given Heathcote didn’t want too much weight on the gelding.
“We asked him to go three-quarters for the thousand and run up 400 metres in a nice 24 (seconds),” the trainer said. “Well, Taylor said he got to the 600 and the horse grabbed the steel saying 'hallelujah, I can gallop'.”
Rothfire blazed the last 600 metres in under 35s, the final 400 in 22s.
“I’m not one to adhere to times in training, and initially I had my heart in my mouth when he ran that time,” Heathcote said. “But he’s pulled up great, and Taylor later said the horse did it all himself, and he felt like he was cruising.”
Robert Heathcote
Thriller from Chinchilla
Rothfire, dubbed widely as the ‘Thriller from Chinchilla’, has as excellent a race-record as Heathcote could ask.
Before breaking down in the G1 Golden Rose last September, the gelding had won all of his eight starts bar one, the latter a runner-up finish to Kisukano (Bel Esprit) on the Gold Coast.
His stakes victories included the G1 JJ Atkins and G2 Champagne Classic as a 2-year-old, and the G2 Run To The Rose at Rosehill. He was a likely favourite for the G1 Golden Rose at $1.55 and, in retrospect of his sesamoid fracture, he was gallant to finish fourth to Ole Kirk.
Rothfire required lengthy rehabilitation after his surgery, and Heathcote has in his office a small jar holding two bone fragments, a reminder of the seriousness of the injury.
To this day, he has never watched the replay of that Golden Rose.
“I watched it live, and I never watched it again,” he said. “Every day I look at those fragments that came out of his sesamoid, and I find it hard to believe that here he is, galloping as good as he did this morning.”
He will or he won’t
Rothfire’s exhibition on Tuesday morning set the racing press alight, and it’s bound to place a bit of pressure on Heathcote’s shoulders. In the past, few horses at this level have returned to former brilliance, but it’s not impossible.
“Faith, hope, prayers, all of those things,” the trainer said. “I suppose I take heart from my stable vet, Phil Burguez, who has been a vet surgeon for most of his career. As he says, horses with these kinds of injuries either successfully return to their best, or they don’t. I know that sounds silly, but they recover or they don’t, and that’s the situation I’m at right now.”
"Faith, hope, prayers, all of those things. I suppose I take heart from my stable vet, Phil Burguez, who has been a vet surgeon for most of his career." - Robert Heathcote
It’s a pragmatic approach, and with reason.
For months, Rothfire has been molly-coddled out of injury. Heathcote said it was three steps forward, two steps back. Canter, then reassess. Push another button and reassess again.
“It’s been like that for the last three or four months, and now this morning I had to take a leap forward, and we’ve done that,” Heathcote said. “He’ll have a couple of barrier trials here in Brisbane, but the plan is to come to Sydney.”
All being well, Rothfire will aim for the G2 The Shorts and the G2 Premiere S., the traditional pair of lead-up events for The Everest in October.
“With a good performance in either of those races, I’m hoping to entice a slotholder to pick him up,” Heathcote said. “If he returns to his full athletic ability, I’m confident he’s one of the better horses going around. If he comes back, he’s a Group 1 horse.”
All being well, Rothfire will aim for the G2 The Shorts and G2 Premiere S., the traditional pair of lead-up events for The Everest in October
Paid twice
Rothfire was unsold as a yearling, but that doesn’t mean he lacks a good story. In fact, the circumstances of his purchase by Heathcote are extraordinary.
By Rothesay, who stands at Queensland’s Lyndhurst Stud Farm, Rothfire was the sixth foal from the Hussonet (USA) mare Huss On Fire (NZ). It’s not a remarkable pedigree, with a scattering of stakes winners on the third and fourth lines, and as such the young Rothfire wasn’t considered a commercial prospect.
“I bought him sight unseen over the phone for $10,000,” Heathcote said. “I got a phone call from the people who bred him saying they had a Rothesay that wasn’t of good enough breeding for the sales. I said he’s got four legs and he’s a cheapie, and I’ll put him on my website.”
Heathcote gets his share of ownership enquiries for cheap horses, and he had a good opinion of Rothesay’s progeny that year. He took the horse sight unseen in what seemed like an ordinary transaction.
“I paid the breeders the $10,000, and the money was fleeced by an internet scam,” the trainer said. “I ended up paying for Rothfire twice.”
All things considered, $20,000 was still cheap. Rothfire has won close to $1 million in prizemoney and, if Tuesday morning is anything to go by, there’s more to come.
“Hopefully he can come back,” Heathcote said, the sincerity very clear in this likeable man. “Today was a big step in the return of the horse who was ever so popular before that catastrophic injury.”
