Interstate targets for in-form Boom Time
In-form Boom Time will be on the road to Sydney and the Gold Coast for feature summer races after making it back-to-back wins in Melbourne.
A former Perth galloper, Boom Time backed up a fast-finishing win during the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington with a hard-fought victory stepping up in distance at Moonee Valley.
Co-trainer Ben Hayes said the Group Three Summer Cup (2000m) at Randwick on December 26 was in the plans for the five-year-old entire en route to the lucrative Magic Millions Trophy (2200m) at the Gold Coast in January.
After sprinting home strongly from back in the field with 54kg in a benchmark race at Flemington last start, Boom Time ended up sitting just off the leader Survived in Saturday’s race and kept rallying in the straight under Craig Williams to hold his rivals at bay.
Boom Time ($7.50), in his third start back from a year off the scene because of a tendon injury, got home by a long neck over Master Zephyr with the same margin to High Church third.
“Craig rode him a treat from the barrier,” Hayes said.
“He ended up in a great spot and he got the result.”
Hayes said it was exciting to have Boom Time eligible to contest the Magic Millions Trophy, a sales-restricted race.
“It’s not often you can run in a race like that for $1 million,” Hayes said.
Williams said Boom Time was able to show his versatility by sitting outside the lead and believes the Magic Millions race is an ideal target.
“He impressed me last time when he won and he’s now had to take the next step,” Williams said.
“I thought the other day he was well-suited by his run style and he had no weight, but today he went up in weight and had to do it tough. And he did it. So he’s a solid horse.”
Boom Time brought up a race-to-race double for Lindsay Park after Hell Or Highwater crossed to the lead and was never headed in the Ranvet Handicap (1600m), her third win from her past four starts.
Earlier, the Mick Price-trained colt Cao Cao put his credentials on show for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic with a dominant win in a 1000m race for juveniles.