Brisbane’s premiership winning trainer Rob Heathcote has returned from a well deserved break and picked up a winning treble on the weekend.
Talking with Rob he has been very happy with the consistency of his horses and the effort from his staff to keep producing winner while he has been away. “I judge our performance as trainer and staff on consistency, and all three of our winners have been racing well and it was just a case of getting good rides and some luck and all three won handsomely. Simmering and Solzhenitsyn have had their foot on the till for the last month and Excellantes is just a damn good horse” Heathcote noted.
It is good for the punters to note that Excellantes will stay in work for another QTIS race in a fortnight’s time. He is one of the website’s favourite horses and you know what to expect every time- Consistency!
I put it to Rob that riding Solzhenitsyn a bit closer may have been the key, but he felt “The blinkers on made him focus a little bit more, and he is a very good horse, and his runs have been good, but he has just not had any luck of late.” Rob added.
The other horse from the stable that has caught my eye lately and I’m enjoying watching it’s progress is Tomboy. This daughter of Murphy’s Blu Boy has sat three wide at her last two starts and just gapped her rivals on straightening. Rob also likes the filly and feels she has a lot of improvement in her too. “She’s got to grow into herself yet, but it’s the benefits of being patient, she hasn’t had a lot of racing, and the more she’s racing the more confident she is getting and she’s flying” Rob said.
Rob Heathcote is a very smart operator, and a bloke I could sit and learn from all day. He always has Brisbane racing as a whole in the forefront of his mind and is always looking after those involved in his stables, and is the first to talk about his appreciation for his staff. I think it’s safe to say that the Heathcote stable are achieving their goal- Consistency.
