Owner Graham Billinghurst rejects $450k offer for family's lovable grey Fire Up Fifi

OWNER Graham Billinghurst yesterday rejected a $450,000 offer for his mare Fire Up Fifi before Saturday's Myer Classic at Flemington.

Nash Rawiller rides Fire Up Fifi on the course proper during trackwork at Flemington this week. Picture: Getty Images

OWNER Graham Billinghurst yesterday rejected a $450,000 offer for his mare Fire Up Fifi before Saturday's Myer Classic at Flemington.

The offer, made by a Sydney-based bloodstock agent, was conditional on the mare racing in the new owners' control in the Group 1 Myer, with Rob Heathcote continuing to train the mare this preparation.

Billinghurst rejected the offer in a split second.

"She's the family pet, everyone loves her,'' Billinghurst said. "I would be moved out of the house if I sold her.

"She has just been so exciting to watch. She puts in every time. That's a huge thing in any horse.

"We've developed a real affinity for her.''

Fire Up Fifi, named after Billinghurst's granddaughter, will have a support team of close to 10 as she tries to turn the tables on Red Tracer this weekend.

The daughter of Bradbury's Luck was a brilliant Flemington winner two starts back and showed she was desperate for 1600m with a strong finishing effort behind Red Tracer at Caulfield.

"We've had so much fun with her. Even though the theme is black and white for Derby day, my daughter Nicole is even packing her red dress in a bag because she says it's a lucky dress,'' Billinghurst said.

"It's extremely exciting. I just hope she has a good run can run on her merits and we're not saying 'what if' after the race.''

Fire Up Fifi will be retained by Billinghurst when she eventually retires to stud.

Queenslander Damian Browne after gutsy mare Fire Up Fifi won at headquarters on Turnbull Stakes Day. Picture: Colleen Petch.

"My 20-year-old grandson Gibson has become quite a guru in the breeding stakes,'' he said. "He's probably got 10 times the knowledge I have on the breeding side and is already suggesting possible stallions for her.''

A trip to Perth for the Railway Stakes is on the cards if Heathcote is happy with the grey's condition after Saturday's run.

Fire Up Fifi is another of racing's fairytales, having cost just $5500 as a yearling and amassing earnings topping $500,000.

Fire Up Fifi is part of a dual Group 1 attack on Derby day for Heathcote, with Solzhenitsyn challenging for favouritism in the Mackinnon Stakes.

Heathcote yesterday inadvertently hung up on Racing Victoria stewards who called for an explanation why blinkers have been taken off Solzhenitsyn on Saturday.

"They were just about to jump in a race at Eagle Farm and I answered the phone and told them to ring back,'' Heathcote said. "They rang back and I was a bit mortified when I found out it was the stewards I had hung up on.

"I appreciate the job they do and they were right to ask the question. Myself and Nash (Rawiller) just feel taking the blinkers off and putting winkers on gives the horse his best chance at 2000m.''