Rob Heathcote has beaten the rush for the big international show and the five-times champion trainer of Brisbane liked what he saw of Longines Hong Kong Sprint contender Buffering yesterday.
With only four of the 24 scheduled foreign visitors at Sha Tin, and a flood of arrivals this weekend, there was still an eerie quiet that will change in the coming days, but Heathcote liked the condition of Buffering and his quarantine companion, Cup runner Criterion, as they took to the all-weather.
"I was so happy Criterion got on the flight - there looked a real chance he wouldn't at one stage," said Heathcote. "I didn't want my bloke in the quarantine all by himself for a week and a half."
Even on the track, Buffering had a distracted look away from Criterion's side and Heathcote said he would give the sprinter a familiarisation tour this morning.
"He'll have a more searching gallop, probably Tuesday, but he'll do a bit of evens on Saturday just so he can come around that home turn and get a look at the grandstands and it won't come as a surprise later," Heathcote said.
"It's a daunting experience to make such a long journey and he didn't eat brilliant the first day, but he licked his bin out last night, so he's settled in now."
He was happier still when the sprinter's full-time partner, Heathcote's former apprentice jockey and now racing manager Melanie Sharpe, trotted him back past the trainer. "Melanie rides Buffering every day, she knows him so well. She's my guide and if she's happy with him I know he's right," he said.
"When she comes past like she did just now and says 'we've got to do a little bit more tomorrow, boss' then that's a sign he's thriving."
Falvelon is the only previous Australian winner of the Sprint, in 2000 and 2001. The race had been on Heathcote's radar for more than year, but he felt the time was right now even after Buffering's defeat in the Darley Classic at Flemington.
"He was good in Melbourne - a Group One win in the Moir, solid in the Manikato without luck and very good behind the three highest-rated sprinters in the world last time," he said.
"The mere fact we got an invitation to come is exciting. I've had some highlights in my racing career but to win it would be the biggest highlight.
"I said to the owners when we were talking about whether to make the trip, 'he's won A$5 million in prize money, he owes you nothing and what a way to celebrate the career of this great horse'.
