Buffering is king of QTIS 600
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Mitchell Speers guides Buffering home to his third $74,000 QTIS 600 winner’s cheque (Noel Pascoe photos)
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Buffering has stamped himself as a major player in the upcoming Queensland Winter Racing Carnival two-year-old fixtures.
The Robert Heathcote-trained gelding has posted three wins from as many starts and all have benefited from the lucrative QTIS 600 initiative.
“It’s a little exciting,” Heathcote said. “He hasn’t crept up in the weights; he’s slammed up in the weights.
“Now we’ll have to seriously look at set-weights in the Carnival for him.”
Buffering started a strong $2.35 race favourite in the large field of 15 that contested the QARDSS QTIS 600 2YO Handicap 1200m at Doomben on Saturday, April 17.
Without his usual rider, Larry Cassidy, the promising gelding by Mossman was left in the hands of apprentice jockey Mitchell Speers.
The two-year-old was allotted a 58.5 kilogram impost, but was assisted by Speers’ eligibility to claim three kilograms at a metropolitan meeting.
Buffering jumped brilliantly from barrier seven and, as he has done in each outing, threw down the challenge from the head of the field.
He quickly dropped Harmonies (Michael Hellyer) off his shoulder at the top of the straight and looked in immediate control.
Steel Dragon, with Stathi Katsidis onboard, presented himself as the main threat but Buffering pulled away towards the post to seal a two length win.
Speers handled the pressure of guiding Cassidy’s unbeaten mount while the experienced hoop is suspended.
There is a noticeable improvement with each outing, but in a promising sign for Heathcote, both Cassidy and Speers have said there is a lot of development left in Buffering.
“He’s got a lot of natural speed,” Speers said. “I spoke to Larry Cassidy and he said he doesn’t like to be pulled around too much, so I just let him roll.
“Up the straight he did a fair bit wrong, but he’s just too quick for them.
“I think he’s got a lot of improvement left in him once he switches on and works out what he’s there for.”
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Words aren’t needed as Robert Heathcote gives a fist pump after the prospects of Buffering in the Winter Carnival grew greatly
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While the horizon looks rosy for the two-year-old, the past has left an equally sweet smell in the hip pocket of connections.
From his three wins Buffering has amounted $222,000, which includes $126,000 in QTIS 600 and QTIS added stakes.
“It’s fantastic because a lot of the owners have been with me since I started and we have some new high profile owners, so it’s a great mix,” Heathcote said.
He refers to the contingent of Socceroos and football officials that have shares in the gelding, including Zeljko Kalac, Craig Moore, Scott Chipperfield, Marinko Vrlic and Sam Krslovic.
The Gillian Heinrich-trained Steel Dragon has run into Buffering in his last two outings and finished second on both occasions.
Katsidis sat the two-year-old gelding in the box seat on the rails behind Buffering for the trip, but showed the burden of carrying 58.5 kilograms as he tired towards the post.
Steel Dragon battled gamely to hold off Raise Up by three quarters of a length, and added the second placing to Katsidis’ winning treble on the day.
The gelding, who switched to the Heinrich camp from his original Townsville base, has now competed in seven starts for fours wins and $217,800 in career prizemoney, which includes $66,000 in QTIS 600 race bonuses.
Shane Scriven had Kelly Schweida’s two-year-old filly, Raise Up, motoring home along the rails from mid-field at the turn to finish third.
She is solely QTIS registered and hence missed out on the double-up QTIS 600 bonus, but has still managed to accumulate $79,000 in prizemoney, including $31,000 in QTIS added stakes, from her six starts to date, which now consists of four third placings.
QUEENSLAND Racing web news: Ross Dowd – April 19
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