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As a homecoming, it couldn’t have played out better. With the grand old boy Buffering cruising across the line at the Gold Coast on Saturday, jockey Damian Browne smoking the proverbial pipe, Robert Heathcote could finally relax and enjoy the moment.
“To be honest, it’s an enormous feeling of relief. The expectation was that he would come here and just win, but it’s never as simple as that,” said the Brisbane-based trainer.
“Hopefully he bought a lot of pleasure to Queenslanders in doing it. It’s a huge thrill to do it on his home turf. It’s not a Group 1, but it sure feels like it is.”
It paid like it too. The riches of the Magic Millions lifted the champ into rarefied racing air, passing the $6 million prize-money mark. The company he keeps on that list is a roll call of thoroughbred greatness – in terms of sprinters, there’s only two others: Takeover Target and Black Caviar. That says it all.
As well as Black Caviar, Buffering has taken on all comers in a golden age of Australian sprinters: Hay List, Star Witness, Shamexpress, Lankan Rupee, Terravista and Chautauqua to name a few. Despite this, Saturday was the Buff’s 19th career win (including six at Group 1 level) – and at eight years old, connections aren’t looking at retirement yet.
“He’s ticked all of the boxes around the country, but he has never been able to win a big one here. That gets that monkey off our back. Now we can take on the world,” said Heathcote.
Dubai’s Group 1 Al Quoz sprint in March is next on the agenda, to be followed with a crack at the Chairman’s Prize in Hong Kong.
All being well following this, come spring Buffering will surely head to Moonee Valley to attempt a third straight Moir Stakes, with the Manikato and Darley Classic also looming.
From there Heathcote hinted it’d be back to Perth to defend the Winterbottom crown at Ascot, then perhaps a fairytale finish back at the Gold Coast this time next year.
It’s an ambitious schedule for any runner, let alone an eight-year-old with 50 starts already under his belt. It’s around now that owners could be tempted to call time on their much-loved charge – secured as a yearling for a staggering $22,000 – but there’s just something about the way Buffering goes about things that suggests he has a few more special moments to offer.
This was perhaps most evident at the Valley in October when defending the Moir, as he out-toughed a bunch of young upstarts on a firm deck, refusing to yield and showing trademark determination once a sniff of victory was had.
Age was a non-factor there and a scan through the impressive career reveals somewhat of a late bloomer who’s perhaps always been more comfortable in younger company.
“You have to admire his toughness. It is a credit to him,” Heathcote said last week.
“We have had to manage him but he shows no signs of wanting to stop racing at the moment. Really, if you had told me when he was a two-year-old he would be a $1.25 favourite in a million dollar race as an eight-year-old, I would have laughed. But here we are.”
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