The premier stable in Brisbane over the last few years has been Rob Heathcote and his very hard working staff who are again leading the premiership race. I love catching up with the team, and Melissa Leitch who is Rob’s second in charge was available today, so I thought I would give the boss the day off and ask Mel about some of the stable stars and where they are heading.
We started on Tomboy who was dominant in the last race on Saturday and looks to have a very bright future. “ They were smoking in front and she was very strong. She won’t run for three weeks and will run in a class 6 -1350m, and then three weeks after that she may go to a 1500m race.” Mel said. For those who have followed her for most of her career you could see she looked a bit ‘leggy’ and Rob has given her a lot of time to mature and is now getting the rewards. The scarey thing is i think she will continue to improve.
Excellantes was solid again on the weekend and Melissa explains it well. “They left the winner out front alone and he got away with it. He will go to the Lough Neagh 1350m, and then to the Magic Millions over 1400m.”
A horse that has improved each preparation is the very nice mare Fillydelphia and we can expect to see her next run in the Bernborough handicap 1615m on new years eve. The stable has just decided to keep her on the fresh side and I guess that would be to keep some sprint in her legs staying at the 1600m.
Unfortunately for the Heathcote stable they lost star stayer Simmering to a very bad injury and he is out for around 12 months and then he will be checked again to see if he is right to resume his career or not. It is a massive blow to the stable to potentially lose the career of one of the best stayers they have ever had. The well bred Khaantantes who made his debut a fortnight ago has also gone to the paddock and will be joined by Solzhenitsyn who pulled up a bit off colour after his first up run, so the stable have tipped him out and will bring him back for a winter preparation.
