Rothfire will return to a happy hunting ground when he tackles this Saturday’s $750,000 Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley.
It will be the second edition of the 1000-metre Group 1 back at The Valley’s first meeting in spring, a fixture that Rothfire has performed well at previously.
Three years ago he won the Group 2 McEwen Stakes (1000m) at the corresponding meeting and 12 months’ later split Imperatriz and Giga Kick in the same race.
The eight-year-old won a Doomben trial by 4-1/4 lengths two days before flying south late last week and Heathcote sees no reason why he won’t acquit himself well again.
“I gave him a trial last week at Doomben and he was fantastic,” Heathcote said.
“He travelled gun-barrel straight up the straight and Martin Harley, a Group 1 jockey in his own right, got off and he said he feels like a three-year-old.
“He flew down on Thursday night, he travelled brilliantly and he’s settled into the Hayes stables like he’d never left.”
Rothfire was one of 21 entries for the Moir Stakes when they closed at noon on Monday with defending champion Mornington Glory, Group 1 winners Skybird and Queman, track specialist Baraqiel and rising stars Alabama Lass, Niance and Esha among his potential rivals.
Rothfire has not raced in Melbourne since finishing fifth in the 2023 Moir Stakes, when that race was run in late September, and Heathcote will take the opportunity to reacquaint him with the circuit on Tuesday morning.
Ben Melham had been booked to ride in the Moir Stakes but is now sidelined with suspension freeing up Luke Nolen to make a return to the Group 1 stage.
Nolen has ridden Rothfire once, into eighth position in the Group 1 Champions Sprint in 2022, and will be Rothfire’s eighth different jockey in his past eight starts.
“He is on the comeback trail and he’s coming off a long injury, however, 40 Group 1s do look good on your resume,” Heathcote said of Nolen.
Nolen only returned to race riding last Monday, after almost nine months sidelined with a knee injury, and the Moir Stakes will be his first Group 1 appearance since the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes on November 16 last year.
