4 hours ago by Ben Dorries 06/09/202

Rob Heathcote has likened Group 1 winner Startantes to pint-sized rugby league legend Allan 'Alfie' Langer, as the diminutive equine pocket rocket embarks on a rich Sydney spring campaign starting Saturday.

Last-start Group 1 Tatt's Tiara winner Startantes is the mare who is so small that she is known as 'The Little Pumpkin' around Heathcote's Eagle Farm stables.

But what she lacks in size, she makes up for in sheer talent and will to win.

She reminds Heathcote of Queensland league legend and Aussie sporting icon Langer, the tiny halfback who mesmerised his much bigger opponents.

"What made Alfie Langer so good, he was only a little fella?" Heathcote said.

"But little Alfie was one of the best.

"Darren Lockyer was a bit the same, there was not a lot of them but they couldn't stop them could they?

"Startantes is a bit the same.

"People should also remember the little mare called Brawny Spirit in the mid 1990s.

"She was a Group 1 winner and she was small and tiny and yet she was one of Australia's best short-course sprinters for a while there."

Queenslander Startantes is set to resume in Saturday's Group 2 Sheraco Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill where she will carry topweight of 58kg under the set weights and penalties conditions of the race.

Early betting on the race has Startantes as a $9 chance, with bookmakers keeping her safe knowing that she produced a withering burst of speed coming from last to win the Tatt's Tiara at Eagle Farm in June.

The form from that race now looks superb with Tatt's Tiara runner-up Snapdancer winning the Group 1 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield last month.

Heathcote feels the Sheraco is a strong race and said Startantes will be better over more distance on a probable path towards the $10m Golden Eagle.

"Saturday is certainly not her grand final, but the race is a good one to kick her off in," Heathcote said.

"She will be back and she will be running on, we know that."

Meanwhile, Heathcote said two slot holders in The Everest have now made contact with him after comeback star Rothfire's slashing win in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes at The Valley last Saturday.

However, after Rothfire had two aborted The Everest campaigns due to injury in the last two years, Heathcote currently remains set on a Melbourne campaign targeting the Group 1 Moir and Group 1 Manikato Stakes.

Heathcote said a $1m bonus is also in his thinking, in terms of the $3m Group 1 VRC Darley Champions Sprint at Flemington on November 5.

There are several conditions attached to the bonus, payable to the winner of the Darley Sprint, but Rothfire will have met the criteria if he runs in the Manikato as he has already won the McEwen.

"You have to remember now the Manikato is worth $2 million and if you have won the McEwen and run in the Manikato and then you win the Darley Sprint, you get a $1 million bonus," Heathcote said.

"He has had two goes (aborted campaigns) at The Everest so at the moment I am happy with him in Melbourne.

"But I do love the concept and the excitement of The Everest.

"I will just sit back and see what happens."