NT move pays dividends for “cult hero” Boomwaa
MOST owners and trainers would be prepared to write off a galloper that has failed to salute in over 934 days, but the team at Boom Racing were not ready to put a line through short-course specialist Boomwaa.
The highly popular sprinter was one of the unluckiest horses running around after a number of near misses in the Melbourne metropolitan area, but a switch to the Northern Territory paid almost instant dividends for the team after the five-year-old broke through in its second Darwin start.
Owner of Boom Racing Jarrod Travaglia said the team could not be happier that the horse has found its groove in the NT.
“She’s been a long time between drinks,” Travaglia told HorseBetting.com.au.
“He’s given us a good ride ever since we got him as an early two-year-old but you get sick of running second and third.”
Travaglia said the owners were getting fed up with the narrow defeats and suspected their charge would enjoy fresh surroundings.
Boomwaa was far from being an easy-beat in Victoria, but it was unknown how it would handle the switch to the dirt at Fanny Bay after spending its time on Melbourne and Sydney metropolitan tracks.
“He’s been very competitive in town for so long but he’s just very stiff on a lot of occasions,” Travaglia said.
“He’s been ten times by less than a length over his career and seven times by less than a length since his last-start win December 27, 2014.
“We’ve always thought the way he races that Darwin would suit given he works well on the dirt track and he works on the beach and he seems to love that.”
The break-through win sparked an outpouring of adulation on social media for Boomwaa, which recorded just its third career win from 36 attempts.
Boomwaa winning today pleases me. Superb result for @boom_racing and the team.
— Shane Anderson (@Globalgallop) July 19, 2017
Travaglia said he has been blown away by the support his galloper has received.
“He’s been a bit of a cult hero Boomwaa, I don’t know why because he’d only won two races but he’s a horse who’s always seemed to attract a lot of attention and a lot of love,” he said.
Glad Boomwaa found a winnable race ?
— Avi (@Avi_Lal) July 19, 2017
“On our Facebook page we’ve got a lot of messages and a lot of people followed it when you wouldn’t have even thought they’d be looking at a race up in Darwin, but they knew he’d won so it was good to break the drought.”
Travaglia said he was confident that the horse could break the losing streak in Darwin early in its NT career, but the Boom Racing team will not be dwelling on the win for too long as focus now shifts to the Palmerston Sprint on July 30.
“We thought that a race like the Palmerston Sprint over the Darwin Cup Carnival in a couple of week’s time would be ideal for him, and we knew we’d probably be able to find a race for him to break the drought up there, which we have done.
“We just thought a $140,000 race like the Palmerston would really suit a horse that races on speed and a horse that would be suited to the dirt.”
The win puts Boomwaa back in the winner’s circle for the first time in almost three years, and while it took a trip to the top end to get it, the team is not concerned where the winners come from.
“It’s very exciting, but as I said to a few guys after the race we’ve had a group one winner with Sonntag and I don’t care where they win,” Travaglia said.
“The thrill of having a win is fantastic, whether it’s in a benchmark 78 in Darwin or a group one in Queensland or a maiden in Sale.
“Personally I just love the thrill of winning.”