RAWILLER AND ROTHFIRE ... TWO TRUE BLUE WARRIORS

By Graham Potter | Sunday, May 17, 2026

You wouldn’t call the forty-seven-year-old Brad Rawiller a new boy on the block, but it did feel a little bit like that when he the seasoned rider refreshed the memory and reclaimed his Group 1 mojo with a virtuoso performance aboard Rothfire in the Doomben 10 000 on Saturday.

While it was Rawiller’s twenty-sixth Group 1 win, in that moment Rawiller was something of a ‘new’ face on the Group 1 winning scene as you had to go back to 2020 to find his last Group 1 win in Australia … and, quite amazingly, that close to a six year gap between Group 1 wins was a statistic he shared with Rothfire whose previous Group 1 win also came in 2020.

And that’s not all the 2026 Doomben 10 000 winning horse /rider combination had in common. Both had to overcome career threatening injuries and travelled a long road to get back to the top.

Rothfire’s smashed sesamoid and Rawiller’s broken neck are just the two extremes of adversity this pairing had to face over their careers. Really scary stuff.

The Rothfire story has been well documented. The Rawiller story less so, but his is as compelling a tale … one that speaks to the rider’s determination, courage and all around professional commitment, without which Rawiller’s last Group 1 win would probably still be six years ago.

Adding another dramatic touch to proceedings was the fact Rothfire was still without a rider on the Sunday before the Doomben 10 000 … with Rawiller only emerging late, out of left field, to secure the ride.

Of course, many jockeys suffer many injuries. Sadly, not all of them can come back. A percentage of them won’t have the desire to get back. Even less have the opportunity to assert themselves in the big time, particularly when trying to fight back at the veteran stage of their careers.

That’s why, as Rawiller did, you have to make the most of each and every opportunity offered to you, no matter what the seeming negatives attached to it might be.

Rawiller made the interstate journey to Doomben for one ride on a $61 chance. Others might have thought, at $61, that wasn’t much of an opportunity, but Rawiller grabbed the chance with both hands and played his part to perfection in landing a famous victory.

The term warrior is sometimes overused … but Rawiller and Rothfire are truly two, great, tough as teak, battle hardened … and battle scarred … warriors who deserved that title as much as they deserved their magnificent success.

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