Young team twice as strong as Heinrich-Rodgers partnership continues to flourish

CO-TRAINER Ben Rodgers may not yet be a household name but he has a big team of young horses coming through and punters can expect to hear a lot more about him.

BEN Rodgers may not yet be a household name but the training partner of Gillian Heinrich has a big team of young horses coming through and punters can expect to hear a lot more of the 28-year-old.

The Heinrich-Rodgers partnership can land its first feature winner on Saturday when Primal Flight takes on the Keith Noud Quality at Eagle Farm. The stable also has Catalina Miss rated a top chance in the 2YO, after narrowly missing on debut.

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The partnership had its first runner in late September and landed its latest winner when Arrogant Boy led home stablemate The Exhibitionist at Ipswich on Saturday.

Rodgers has worked for Heinrich and her husband Hoss for more than four years and said he could not ask for a better environment in which to kick off his training career.

“It’s a huge opportunity for me to be part of this operation,” he said.

“To get the nice horses coming through that Gillian and Hoss have is great. You wouldn’t get that sort of chance on your own. If it were just me, I’d probably have two tried horses and that’s it.

Rich form: Primal Flight will take winning form into the Listed Keith Noud at Eagle Farm. Picture: Jono Searle

“Gillian is easygoing and open-minded. She has a huge amount of experience and knowledge, which she’s happy to share.”

Heinrich opted for the training partnership so she could step back and “take it a little bit easier” after a battle with bowel cancer. She received the all clear from the disease last August.

Rodgers feels Primal Flight has the credentials to be competitive in the Noud.

“He only had one run the previous prep and it’s always hard to win first-up when you haven’t had a full prep the time before,” he said.

“He only had the one trial leading into that and to beat Most Important, who had been pretty impressive the time before, was a good pointer.”

Catalina Miss raced well above market expectations to just miss behind the well-backed Champ Elect on November 5.

“The favourite sat outside her and took the length of the straight to reel her in, so it was a tough effort,” Rodgers said.

“She switched legs and had a real look around, so she should take good improvement from it. There’s nothing in her work to suggest she hasn’t improved.”

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Primal Flight (left) lands a decent plunge at Doomben in September last year.

Originally published as Young team twice as strong as Heinrich-Rodgers partnership continues to flourish