Who better to catch up with than the reigning premiership trainer Rob Heathcote. He had a very successful time over the Spring carnival with stable stars Woorim and Buffering performing really well. Now he is home and focusing on the summer series with a few of his other top liners.
Last weekend seen the Heathcote stable quinella the main race on the card with Work The Room running over the top of Excellantes late over the 1200m when both horses were resuming. Rob was very happy with the effort of both horses, but feels Excellantes should prove hard to beat when they meet next. “He will strip a lot fitter next time out, he seems to need a run or two to be at his best.” Heathcote said.
The horse that has me the most excited is Fillydelphia and I asked Rob to tell me a bit about how she is going and what he feels would be her pet trip will be. “She is going good and in a suitable race this week. The form she is in, and the sprint she has got means she could just be too good for them. I think the mile is her best trip. The fact she is competitive over the shorter trips is very pleasing as to be a top shelf mare she has to be effective over seven furlongs (1400m) to be a top shelf mare, because the Winter Stakes and the Glenlogan Park stakes in the winter carnival are over them trips.” Heathcote added.
The champion trainer also said Simmering and Solzhenitsyn are both progressing very well and we can expect to see them trial and step out in the coming month or so. He has a good opinion of both horses and I think it will pay to follow them in their preperations.
Rob is a bloke I could just sit and talk to for hours about racing as not only is he extremely knowledgeable, but is very passionate about racing, and racing in Queensland especially. He has another fight on his hands this year with the Patinack team to take out the premiership, but he has proved too good the last couple of years and you would be a game punter to say he won’t come out on top again.
