Queensland two-year-old Rothfire has added a Group 1 to his already growing resume by taking out the $350,000 JJ Atkins (1400m) in an absolute canter on his home track.

The son of Rothesay raced every bit like the $3.50 favourite at Eagle Farm on Saturday as jockey Jim Byrne established a spot two-off the fence before kicking clear to win by a comfortable three lengths.

Jockey Jim Byrne celebrates a win aboard Rothfire in Saturday’s JJ Atkins at Eagle Farm. Photo: Steve Hart.

Rothfire, who has now won six from seven starts, got out well from the barriers and was happy to settle off the speed. The race tempo suited his turn of foot perfectly in the end, leaving trainer Rob Heathcote with his eyes towards the future.

“He’s some horse. I’m lost for words, and that’s not normally me,” Heathcote said after the race.

“He’s climbed his Everest today, and note I did use that word, Everest.”

Heathcote now plans to head to Sydney in the Spring for the world’s richest turf race, The Everest, at Randwick on October 17.

Rothfire has already received a touch up in All-In 2020 The Everest betting markets at Ladbrokes.com.au, firming into $21.00 following his first Group 1 win.

“He’ll go to the paddock on Monday, I’ll take him around myself. He’ll take a nice break, we’ll set a plan in concrete as we get closer to a race, there’s a couple of races down in Sydney, maybe now that will open the door,” Heathcote went on to say.

“I did an interview with miRunners, as we know they’ve bought a slot in the Everest, and they interviewed me the other day and said he’s certainly in the running for that, particularly after what Yes Yes Yes did last year, so I think he’s in the running for that.”

Gotta Kiss held on for second on Saturday followed closely by a very brave The Drinks Cart.

2020 JJ Atkins Results

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	1	ROTHFIRE	Robert Heathcote	Jim Byrne		13	57kg		$3.50F
	2	13	GOTTA KISS	Steven O’Dea	Ms Stephanie Thornton	3.3L	15	55kg		$20
	3	5	THE DRINKS CART	Toby & Trent Edmonds	Brad Stewart	3.5L	8	57kg		$21
	4	11	OVERLORD	Chris Waller	Boris Thornton	3.9L	17	57kg		$13
	5	3	WISDOM OF WATER	Toby & Trent Edmonds	Robbie Fradd	4.1L	10	57kg		$11
	6	6	THUNDER MANIA	John Symons & Sheila Laxon	Taylor Marshall	4.2L	7	57kg		$41
	7	14	MACROURA	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Andrew Mallyon	4.4L	2	55kg		$7
	8	2	WILD RULER	Peter & Paul Snowden	Ryan Maloney	4.6L	14	57kg		$11
	9	10	TICK TOCK BOOM	David Vandyke	Jake Bayliss	4.8L	9	57kg		$41
	10	17	ISOTOPE	Tony Gollan	Baylee Nothdurft (a)	5L	12	55kg		$5
	11	18	STAROSA	Tony Gollan	James Innes Jnr	5.2L	11	55kg		$151
	12	15	COSMIC GOSSIP	Stuart Kendrick	Dale Smith	5.4L	16	55kg		$201
	13	7	SPOKESMAN	Chris Waller	Luke Dittman	5.6L	5	57kg		$101
	14	8	SAFFIANO	Chris Waller	Mark Du Plessis	5.9L	4	57kg		$61
	15	9	WAY BEYOND	Stuart Kendrick	Ryan Wiggins	6L	6	57kg		$201
	16	16	MINJEE	Robert Heathcote	Blake Spriggs	8.7L	18	55kg		$101
	17	12	SUPERARE	Stuart Kendrick	James Orman	10L	1	57kg		$101
	18	4	NOT AN OPTION	Richard & Michael Freedman	Michael Cahill	12.2L	3	57kg		$18
		20e	SEA BOSS	Kristen Buchanan			0
		19e	SEE MARIE	Desleigh Forster	Taylor Marshall		0

*Table Credit: Racing Australia.