A double celebration for Henry

Echuca newspaper representative Henry Rolfe had two very good reasons to kick back and celebrate at home on Tuesday night.

The popular young man turned 23 years old and then cheered home his family-owned pacer which scored at the nearby Shepparton track.

“I wasn’t in the good books for racing on his birthday!” Henry’s mum Ros declared. “But I did the whole kitncabooble and cooked up his favorite gourmet meal for him. I did the vegies before the trots and when I got home, I reheated them and cooked the steak-with the special mushroom sauce he loves,” she said.

All-in-all, the fun-loving trainer-driver reckons she finished in front for the day, on the track and on the home-front.

She gave a perfect front-running exhibition to get home on four-year-old gelding Our Art Work, which won by nearly two metres from Postal Express (Chris Anderson), who trailed the winner all the way, with Righteously (Chris Shinn) getting up for third.

Rolfe and her husband Michael, a former Australian rules footballer with Richmond and Footscray in the 1980s, enjoy racing a small team of horses prepared by Ros.

They made the move back to Ros’s hometown of Echuca nearly four years ago, after previously living in Mildura for 18 years.

“I’ve got four horses in work and there’s two more waiting to come back in,” Ros said.

“A friend had Our Art Work and he asked if I’d like to lease him. I was going to do that, but then I thought what the hell, we may as well buy him. So he’s a family horse for sure-Michael and I own him, along with our sons Francis, Henry and Lewis.

“All of the boys have been back living at home because of COVID so we decided to include them in the ownership to give them a bit of an outside interest.”

Ros said “birthday boy” Henry began work at Echuca’s Riverine Herald after studying media and advertising.

“Francis has nearly completed his law studies, while Lewis is in Year 11,” she said.

Our Art Work (Artiscape-Our Poppi Girl (In The Pocket) has now won three races-all at Shepparton’s Kialla Racing Complex.

“It’s only about a 50-minute drive for us and the horse really loves the big track. I’ve now won two on him, and Olivia Weidenbach got home on him the other time,” Ros said.

“He’s a nice-looking type and has brilliant gate speed and when he lands in front, he can do it at both ends.

“I was reasonably confident the other night in the run and knew the horse on my back was the main danger.”

Ros said at her next race meeting on Sunday she may have Our Art Work and his stablemate Dallas Franco in the same race.

And there’s no prizes for guessing the venue – Shepparton of course!

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink