Races

Real Punters Play Here: Doomben 10,000

Posted on | Posted by Chris Nelson

Brad Bishop has a look into the career of old marvel Rothfire ahead of the Doomben 10,000, brought to you by TABtouch.

Rothfire is one of the roughies in this Saturday’s Doomben 10,000, rated $61 with TABtouch on Thursday morning, but starting big odds in the 1200-metre Group 1 is nothing new for the veteran Queenslander.

The Robert Heathcote-trained warrior went around $41 in last year’s Doomben 10,000 and was only cut down in the final couple of strides by Sunshine In Paris.

The son of Rothesay is back for another crack this year at eight years of age and, if successful, he would become the oldest Doomben 10,000 winner in the Group 1 era, which commenced in 1979.

He is also striving to become the first horse since Barossa Boy in 1992 to win it the year after running second.

Nine others who finished second returned the following year in an attempt to go one better with additional second placings to All Our Mob (1995) and Our Egyptian Raine (2005) the best results.

Saturday will mark the fifth Queensland Winter Carnival that Rothfire has contested a Group 1 race.

A measure of his longevity is that his first came as a two-year-old during the Covid-ravaged Carnival of 2020, a year that the Doomben 10,000 was not even run due to the pandemic, and he won the J J Atkins.

He missed the 2021 Carnival due to the sesamoid fracture that threatened to end his career as a three-year-old, but he returned in 2022 and ran in the three big short-course events – the Doomben 10,000 (fifth), Kingsford Smith Cup (fourth) and Stradbroke Handicap (third).

He again placed in the Stradbroke in 2023, finishing runner-up to Think About it, which followed a third placing in that year’s Kingsford Smith Cup.

Rothfire missed the entire Winter Carnival in 2024 but last year progressed from the Doomben 10,000 to a third Stradbroke, in which he finished seventh behind War Machine.

He failed to flatter last start, when he beat home just one rival in the $1 million The Archer at Rockhampton, and his hopes of Doomben 10,000 redemption took a hit when he came up with barrier 15 at Tuesday morning’s barrier draw.

The positive is he started from gate 11 last year, which was a rare Doomben 10,000 dominated by wider gates.

Sunshine In Paris won from 10, in a field of 13, while third placegetter Payline jumped from the outside alley.

It was the first time in a quarter-century that the winner started from a double-digit gate with the previous being Mr Innocent, who won from gate 12 in a field of 15 in 2000.

Seventeen of the 24 winners between Mr Innocent and Sunshine In Paris started from the inside half of the field, including 14 from gates one to four.

This year’s favourite Jimmysstar, a $3.60 chance with TABtouch, came up with barrier 11 but is in to 10 after two early scratchings, while Beadman ($12, barrier one), Private Eye ($7.50, three), Grafterburners ($7.50, six) and Napoleonic ($6.50, nine) are the others prominent with TABtouch to start from single-figure starting positions.

Key Doomben 10,000 Facts

  • 3YOs the most successful age group producing 13 winners
  • Race dominated by the males, only seven female winners
  • Barriers historically important. No horse has won drawn wider than 10 since 2000 (Mr Innocent)
  • Good race for favourites who possess a 30.8% strike rate

*Data sample begins from 1980

Market Market



Recent Articles