The start of a new era for Team Dynamic and our Owners will commence on Saturday at Doomben when
leading Brisbane trainer Robert Heathcote takes our first Dynamic runner to the races.
Brisbane trainer Rob Heathcote
Rob will be saddling up enigmatic mare
DEFINE in race 6 on the programme – the
TATTERSALL'S ARCADE CLASSIC ~ A Listed Race for Fillies and Mares over 1200 metres.
DEFINE winning at Randwick
Connections and supporters of
DEFINE know the daughter of Lonhro has the ability to win a race like this however if the general form student took the printed raceform on face value, they could hardly be blamed for thinking the mare should be aiming for something easier.
Her form does look a little ordinary. She has not been placed in her past 8 starts which is hardly a glowing endorsement. However her first 6 runs she had 2 wins and 2 seconds and has earned over $158,000 including running 2nd in the
Gr2 Phar Lap Stakes.
She had been trained early in her career to get back and run on in her races but as a result, she developed some bad habits, getting too far back in her races thus giving herself little to no chance of making up the ground.
She last started on the 12 September at Rosehill beaten 3.3 lengths and that run had merit considering she was a dozen lengths off the pace as they swung for home, peeling off a slick 34.57 secs for the last 600m off the front.
With the glass ceiling in Sydney racing and strength of opposition at that time of the carnival was limiting her opportunities.
That was her third run into the preparation and she was gaining good fitness levels after resuming off just the one trial instead of two trials and ran over 1100m on a Heavy track which certainly flattened her and she was plain second up.
However, this mare is sound and right and the time had come for a change of scenery and racing grade.
A decision was made by her owners to give her a chance in Queensland and they wanted to send her to a horseman capable of bringing out the best in older horses.
Robert Heathcote was asked if he would be interested in taking over
DEFINE and that the team didn’t expect any miracles however if he could find the key to her in the warmer environment she may give his stable a handy mare to place into some nice races over the summer.
Rob Heathcote - Part of Team Dynamic
Happily both Robert and Dynamic joined forces and DEFINE is the inaugural runner under this new relationship.
DEFINE has drawn awkwardly in barrier 8 on Saturday in what looks to be on paper a fast run affair.
Jeff Lloyd - Just rode another Dynamic winner
Fortunately we have leading rider
Jeff Lloyd aboard to hopefully guide
DEFINE across and find cover.
Speed Maps generally have
DEFINE settling well back in such a fast run race however the mare has freshened up nicely and we wouldn’t be surprised if she was able to settle a bit closer in the run than expected however that’s up to
DEFINE.
Over the past few months, the track bias at Doomben has been very much towards front runners, based upon the short home straight at Doomben however we are hopeful of a licketty-split tempo and with average racing luck, we do anticipate she will close off the race nicely.
Rob has been upbeat about the way the horse has settled into her knew environment and the sharpness of her work over the past few weeks as her fitness levels increased. Whilst we can all read the formguide and her chances at 1200m seem slim, Rob has the mare in fine fettle and a forward showing wouldn’t surprise our team.
The key to the race is where she lands and that she gets cover – if she’s trapped 3 deep especially without cover, her chances are reduced, so luck is vital.
Rob will be watching on from Perth where he has his old marvel Buffering engaged.
We wish Rob and our Dynamic Owners the best of luck on Saturday.