Roughie to relive his Stradbroke glory
Champion galloper Rough Habit is set for a return to Queensland to take part in celebrations around the 120th anniversary of the Stradbroke Handicap.
The Queensland winter carnival was the favourite hunting ground for the rugged Taranaki gelding. During the first half of the 1990s he numbered a double in the Sunshine State's flagship race, along with three Doomben Cup, two Hollindale Cups the Queensland Derby and a final memorable performance in the O'Shea Stakes among his career total of 29 wins.
On Saturday the rising 24-year-old will be at Eagle Farm to lead out the field for the A$1 million Stradbroke Handicap. He is scheduled to fly to Brisbane this weekend in the company of horses prepared by his former trainer John Wheeler, who will oversee him during his Brisbane sojourn.
For the bulk of the time since his retirement at the age of nine in 1995, Rough Habit has been an integral part of the Horse Magic show at Ada Parnwell's Cambridge Lodge, where he parades alongside fellow millionaires Christopher Vance and Xcellent.
"Between the three of them they won more than $10 million," says Cambridge Lodge manager Lee Somervell. "Roughie is a star, a real hard case the way he ambles into the arena and then when he gets a round of applause he grows another hand. He loves being in the show and the attention he gets.
"A lot of our visitors are Australians and he really strikes a chord with them. I'm picking that will be the same when he gets to Queensland."
Former jockey Tarissa McDonald has been Rough Habit's regular exercise rider, and it's likely that he'll be reunited with one of his former raceday pilots for his Stradbroke raceday experience.
"The word's out here and I believe there's more than one jockey with his hand up for the privilege," Brisbane Racing Club marketing manager Pru Harris told The Informant earlier this week.
"It's fantastic that he's able to make it over here for what will be a special Stradbroke. I know he's a Kiwi horse but as far as people over here are concerned, he's a Queensland icon. Everyone has a fond memory of at least one of his big wins."
Rough Habit's 1992 Stradbroke victory stands out for the manner in which he gave the entire field a start at the top of the Eagle Farm straight and then, under 57 kilograms, picked off his rivals one by one.
While that race remains truly memorable for his jockey Jim Cassidy, rival Shane Scriven still rates his 1995 O'Shea Stakes win as the most spine-tingling of his career. John Wheeler had already declared that the weight-for-age event would bring down the curtain on Rough Habit's Queensland career and there was hardly a dry eye on the course when the baldy-faced bay returned to scale.
Eagle Farm officials turned on a $1,000 shout in the racecourse bar that was then named after him and across Nudgee Road at Doomben racecourse, a three-year-old feature race was also dedicated to him. In 2009 Rough Habit became an inaugural inductee to the Stradbroke Hall of Fame, while this year his trainer was inducted to the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame due in no small part to the contribution made by the horse Wheeler describes as "the ultimate warrior".
Roughie will be leaving the serious competition to younger pretenders at Eagle Farm next Saturday, but the veteran is still bound to generate memories and emotions among a race-going audience who recognise and appreciate a champion.
