“As soon as my phone rang this morning and I saw Air Express I thought … ahh, her we go.”
Robert Heathcote immediately knew all was not well with the arrangement that had been put in place to transport Prince Of Boom and Rothfire, the stable’s feature race contenders, to Melbourne for their Saturday assignments at Moonee Valley.
The Heathcote trained horses’ flight to Melbourne was due to leave at 1am tomorrow, in the early hours of morning, but that flight has been called off.
It’s not over yet though.
‘We are going to try again tomorrow night … and at the very latest Thursday night,” confirmed Heathcote, who has been in this situation before.
“It’s happened to me in the past,” said Heathcote. “I’ve actually been out at the airport ready to put the horses on the plane when the flight got called off and I had to bring the horses home.
“It’s the same situation now. It’s quite simple. If the plane doesn’t fly, the horses will stay here.”
Prince Of Boom, a five-time winner from only nine starts, is due to contest the Listed Chautauqua Stakes at Moonee Valley on Saturday, while Rothfire, a winner of seven out of fifteen starts … including a Group 1, is set to resume in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes at the same meeting.
