Race Result:

1st: Rothfire (B Thompson/R Heathcote) - $1.80
2nd: Steady Ready (M Rodd/T & M Sears) - $10
3rd: Master Jamie (L Tilley/G Green) - $26

Winning Time: 1:11.03 Last 600m: 35.46

Margins: 0.3L x 0.2L

The "Thriller from Chinchilla" takes out the King Of The Mountain!

Rothfire does the punters proud. pic.twitter.com/D9AmqEGlXc

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 1, 2024

Winning Trainer: Rob Heathcote

On the horse: "He's a little ripper. He was so cool, calm and collected today, which gave me a lot of confidence. At home, Mel puts a crown on his box and calls him The King, so it's fitting he's been crowned the king of the mountain today.

On the winning margin: "I don't think Ben was overly aggressive with him. Full credit to Tony and Maddy [Sears], the run of Steady Ready was outstanding. He's only narrowly won, but I'll take any winning margin and he's done his job now because he gets into the Magic Millions, which is worth $1 million. 

Overcoming adversity: "It's a miracle this horse is still racing. This was also his first appearance at this track, which takes a bit of getting used to and he was taking on a few locals, including Steady Ready. There has been a bit of criticism about the strength of the field, but the fact that he's only just won shows the race is very worthy of its place on the calendar."

Winning Jockey: Ben Thompson

Reaction on winning back-to-back: "It helps when you're riding horses like [last year's winner] Yellow Brick and a superstar like Rothfire. That makes my job a lot easier. He's raced at the highest level, finished second in a Group 1 to Think About It and also second to Imperatriz. So that made it pretty daunting for the opposition, but he had to carry 60 kilos against a lot of locally-trained horses, and his task was made even harder when we drew the outside gate.

Pressure of riding the short-priced favourite: "We couldn't afford to have any excuses, so I knew we had to take the initiative from the wide alley. Master Jamie and Steady Ready were coming at us late, so he really had to earn his stripes. He's just a star, and a real credit to Rob and his whole team. It's a big team effort and it's very fitting that he's the king of the mountain.