By Glenn Davis
Few trainers in Brisbane have a better record with tried horses than Desleigh Forster.
Forster has a boutique stable of 14 horses in work at Eagle Farm and landed her biggest payday when Chapter And Verse was successful in the Magic Millions QTIS Open at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Forster is now hoping to surf the Magic Millions wave with Ruby Red Heart who is second-up in the Ascot Green Fillies & Mares Benchmark 65 Handicap (1200m) at Doomben on Wednesday.
Ruby Red Heart was originally trained by John Zielke when he was based at Toowoomba but has been in Forster’s care for the past 10 months.
The Show A Heart mare had big wraps on her as a two-year-old but she failed to live up to her promise when well beaten in the Group 3 Ken Russell Memorial at the Gold Coast and Group 2 Sires’ Produce Stakes at Eagle Farm in 2017.
It was later discovered she was suffering from a lung infection and was given almost a year to recover in the paddock.
Ruby Red Heart was bred by part-owner Greg Catton who races the filly with a group of friends.
“She’s been working well and her rider Jimmy Orman is very happy with her,” Forster said.
“Her first-up run at the Sunshine Coast was very good but she was caught wide.
“She’s drawn well and she’s a lot fitter now so she should run well.”
Ruby Red Heart was tested as a stayer in her first preparation for Forster.
“The owners were keen to see if she could run a trip so we aimed her for the Queensland Oaks,” Forster said.
“Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay so we brought her back to the shorter trips after she was beaten in The Roses.”
Meanwhile Forster has sent Chapter And Verse for a short break ahead of a Brisbane winter carnival campaign.
“Chapter And Verse has gone for a month’s break and we’ll monitor him while he’s in the paddock to see if he’ll come back to prepare for the Stradbroke,” she said.
“But he’s still six months away from his best and the Stradbroke might come up too early and it might be next year for him.”
Chapter And Verse continued Forster’s great run with cheap horses.
The four-year-old was knocked down for $28,000 and has earned more than $745,000 in prizemoney with four wins and seven placings from 12 starts.
Racing Queensland webnews January 15