Heathcote bids for QTIS Jewel title with Fabulantes

By Glenn Davis

The fickle game of breeding has its challenges, but patience and deep pockets remain a crucial ingredient.

Eagle Farm trainer Robert Heathcote has shown that to be the case but there have been some good times resulting in rich rewards.

Heathcote has bred from a number of quality mares since he first started training in 1997, but none have been better than his Just Awesome mare, Cantantes.

Cantantes was no world beater on the racetrack, but she was a super star at stud producing many top sprinters including Heathcote’s grand performer Funtantes.

“I started off breeding a few about five years after I began training and it’s a hard game,” Heathcote said.

“It’s a rocky road as Funtantes has shown after she slipped a couple of her early foals.

“It can be a long time waiting for no result.”

Funtantes won 10 times during her career, earning more than $704,000 in prizemoney, with her best wins in the Group 2 Champagne Classic at Doomben in 2009 and Listed Nudgee and Listed Juanmo Stakes. 

She also has become a grand producer in the breeding barn with her best foal Startantes going on to win at the highest level in the Group 1 Tatt’s Tiara at Eagle Farm four years ago.

Heathcote is hoping another of Funtantes’ progeny, Fabulantes, can follow his family tradition in the $500,000 QTIS Jewel 3YO Final at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Fabulantes - a Daniel Moor mount – has won four of his 11 starts but his record could have been better.

“We’ve only just realised the best way to ride him is to let him settle and ride him quiet,” Heathcote said.

“In his early days he ran in some good races, but he wasn’t ridden the right way as we’ve now discovered.

“He’s a genuine chance in the QTIS Jewel Final after his last two wins but I would have preferred the race to be over 1400 metres.

“Both his last wins were over 1350 metres and they were brilliant but dropping back to 1200 metres makes it difficult.”

Heathcote is chasing his second win in the QTIS Jewel 3YO Final after Prince Of Boom was successful in 2022.

Heathcote is not concerned with a wide barrier and is more worried about the race tempo with Fabulantes on Saturday. 

“Barriers don’t concern me with him. It’s more the tempo of the race and we’d like some speed on up front,” Heathcote said.