The most important day towards the end of October remains the same as last year for trainer David Pfieffer.
His son Darby celebrated his sixth birthday on Friday, a day before his father looks for a life-changing payday with Rocketing By in the Nature Strip Stakes at Rosehill.
David Pfieffer with son Darby after Rocketing By won the Inglis Sprint last year.Credit:Getty
The right result on Saturday would net Rocketing By more than $4.2 million in prizemoney and bonuses, 10 per cent of which would flow to Pfieffer as the trainer makes the most of a second chance.
It is a long way from last year, when Pfieffer was struggling with his bills earning $6000 a month as an air-conditioning labourer during an enforced spell from racing.
“What was I doing on Derby day last year,” Pfieffer pondered when asked. He goes quiet for a minute.
“I can’t remember. We don’t worry about the past; we worry about the future.
“It’s not something I dwell on.”
Pfieffer was serving a nine-month disqualification for substituting a urine sample last October. But being away from the sport and the business he had built his life around has given him some perspective.
Particularly when it came to his family and Darby’s birthday.
“I made the mistake, but the thing I promised myself was my family weren’t going to miss out because of my mistake,” Pfieffer said. “I went out and made sure Darby had a great present and a great day.
“I do remember his cake, actually.”
It was a hard lesson to learn for Pfieffer, who had to shut his stable, pay out his staff and completely isolate himself from racing when the ban came from stewards for what he labelled “a foolish act”.
He had built a reputation as a young trainer going places in the preceding years, and that was franked when Rocketing By won the $1 million Inglis Sprint in 2021. But all of sudden he had to hand his horses to other trainers and leave racing behind.
“He is a good guy, Dave, and was my neighbour for a long time, and I missed him last year,” fellow trainer Bjorn Baker said. “He made mistake, but it’s good to have him back and see him with a good horse.
“I think you are seeing the character of the man now.”
Pfieffer worked with a team of young blokes and learnt what passion he had for racing and rewards that come from it the hard way in his time out.
“They would be getting out and playing up at the weekends. It was a bit of release for me to know what else there was out there,” Pfieffer said. “Since I have been back I hear from them a bit – it is usually for tickets and tips.”
Pfieffer only returned to his old stables a couple of months ago with a string of horses that are going to find their way to win in maidens and at country tracks.
But there was one horse that could give him hope of playing with the big boys. It was Rocketing By.
He had been the hardest horse to walk away from.
Rocketing By gets up on the inside to win the Sydney Stakes at Royal Randwick.Credit:Getty
Pfieffer has won a group 1 race and won Magic Millions races, but it’s always the horse with potential that drives the early starts for a trainer.
“I knew how good he was, and I was thinking he was going to do it for someone else,” Pfieffer said. “He was the one chance for me to be at these carnival days when I came back.
“But I didn’t think I would have he would be running for $4.2 million on Saturday; I was happy for him to pick up a good cheque.”
Rocketing By lived up to his name when he flashed home late to take the Sydney Stakes last start for a $1 million cheque that has and eased the pressure on Pfieffer’s business. He still had bills that were overdue and people waiting for him to pay.
“It was a good surprise,” Pfieffer said. “For the time I was out, I was losing money every week. This horse winning the Sydney Stakes helped – a lot.
“It helped me catch up with people who supported me throughout it and backed me.
“I wasn’t the only one that lost out here – a lot of people who were associated with the stable got time as well. Some of them have given me time to pay, which I can do now.
“The win was good for a lot of people.”
But it nearly didn’t happen. Rocketing By was troubled by a hoof complaint leading into the race and was the last horse into the field. Pfieffer got him to Randwick but faced a final obstacle when the vets had a look at him before the race.
“He had spent more time at the beach than the stable before that race, and then when the vet was looking at him all I could think was it’s going to be for nothing,” Pfieffer said. “But they were happy, and we were happier when he won.”
The points in the Sydney Sprint Series guarantee Rocketing By a payout from the bonuses on offer, but Pfieffer is daring to dream bigger with the $34 chance.
“It would be the type of money that pays off your mortgage. A lot of money came out of that mortgage in the last year,” he said. “It is a step up to take on the sprinters from The Everest, but I can’t have him any better.”
