Trainer Rob Heathcote’s bad luck with barrier draws continues with Carbonara in Calaway Gal Stakes
Rob Heathcote is confident his filly Carbonara has improved her barrier manners after a disastrous debut and can show off her “enormous talent” in the Calaway Gal Stakes at Eagle Farm.
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Trainer Rob Heathcote is confident there won’t a repeat of the barrier mishap which ruined Carbonara’s debut race when the talented filly lines up in Saturday’s $200,000 Calaway Gal Stakes at Eagle Farm.
Young apprentice Bailey Wheeler was riding Carbonara, named after one of Heathcote’s favourite Italian dishes, spaghetti carbonara, when the horse reared in the gates in the $125,000 QTIS 2YO Jewel Prelude over 1110m at Doomben on February 22.
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Carbonara ended up finishing last in a complete forgive run in the nine-horse race won by Sunrays and trained by Kelly Schweida, who went on to win the $500,000 2YO Jewel (1200m) on the Gold Coast last month with Grafterburners.
“She reared in the stalls and that can happen,” Heathcote said about the unfortunate incident in the 2YO Prelude.
“She’s a little bit antsy at first and gets a little bit anxious in the barriers.
“Since then we’ve had to do a fair bit of rehabilitation work and we’ve had her through our barriers.
“She had a jumpout on Tuesday which was part of the stewards’ direction and she passed her barrier certificate. That’s why I have her in on Saturday.
“She’s an enormous talent. I’m having a horror run with wide barriers but we’re still going to run Carbonara on Saturday.”
High-flying apprentice Emily Lang will ride Carbonara in a race dominated in the betting markets by the Tony Gollan-trained topweight Hi Barbie ($3.30 with TAB).
Lang is leading the Brisbane jockeys’ premiership with 51 victories, six ahead of Jimmy Orman and Angela Jones, who will ride Hi Barbie, the filly resuming after finishing sixth in the $3m Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) in January.
“From the alley (14) obviously it’ll be tough and Hi Barbie is pure quality,” Heathcote said.
“She’s a $1.2m filly and mine is a little home-bred.”
Heathcote was clearly thinking about his belly when it came to naming Carbonara, who is paying $14 to win the $200,000 Listed Calaway Gal Stakes.
Sunrays remains unbeaten and claims the fillies' QTIS Jewel Prelude with @CejayGraham1 on board for @schweidaracing ☀ï¸@BrisRacingClubpic.twitter.com/XCIxls06yH
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 22, 2025
“I love spaghetti carbonara and she’s out of a mare called Alle Vongole, which is a famous Italian dish called alle vongole, which in Italian means ‘spaghetti with clams’,” Heathcote said.
“It’s my favourite dish. The half-brother that’s out in the paddock, I think I’ll call him ‘Linguine’.”
Unbeaten pair Ha’penny Hatch ($5) and Dragonne Rouge ($8.50) should also provide stiff opposition in the race for 2YO fillies, while TAB has rated the John Sargent-trained Listen Sweetheart as a $6 chance in her race debut.
Originally published as Trainer Rob Heathcote’s bad luck with barrier draws continues with Carbonara in Calaway Gal Stakes
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