3 minute read
When Boomba first walked into his stable, trainer Cliff Brown for the first time looked at his racing manager Chris Bock with raised eyebrows.
The Australian handler had always credited the purchase of many of his good horses, most notably the two Barree Stable superstars Debt Collector and Inferno (recent Singapore Classic winner), to Bock, his right-hand man from Day 1.
But this time round, Brown buried his face in his hands after he laid eyes on that son of Showcasing. To him, such an "ugly duckling" could not be worth the NZ$100,000 Bock coughed up for the Barree Stable again at last year's New Zealand Yearling Sale.
One and a half years later, Boomba won at his very first start in the $75,000 Jupiter Gold 2018 Stakes Restricted Maiden race over 1200m on Saturday.
Brown ate humble pie, again deferring to Bock as the supreme authority (at least at the yard) when it came to choosing horses.
"When he first walked into the stable, I saw this dumpy fat little thing," recalled Brown, almost reeling at the image etched in his mind.
"I told Chris what have you done? What do you like about this one?
"Chris just told me not to worry, he's a nice horse, and to give him more time. You know what, he was 100% right.
"At the end of the day, Chris just has a magnificent eye for young horses."
After holding down the advantage from his barrier No 1, Boomba (Ruan Maia) led throughout, never looking in danger of getting run down the whole length of the home straight.
Lim's Dreamwalker (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) did try to wear him down, but could not quite keep up. In the end, it was another one of Brown's newcomers, Zermatt (Joseph See), who had to come around horses to see daylight, who pinched second place by a nose from Lim's Dreamwalker for a Brown quinella.
Boomba ($21) ran the 1200m on the Long Course on a yielding track in 1min 11.96secs.
"I'm very pleased with Zermatt's second as well. He was bred by Greg Perry, who also bred What's New, who is now retired back at his place," said Brown.
"We'll see how Boomba pulls up and we'll decide where he goes from here, but Zermatt is going for a break as he's not mature enough.
"Vlad (Duric) was very happy with his trials and we thought one race wasn't going to hurt him, but he needs a bit more time."
Meanwhile, Brown went on to saddle a hat-trick of winners when odds-on favourite ($9) In All His Glory, with Duric up, took out the $75,000 Spalato 2014 Stakes Restricted Maiden race over 1400m, and Hardcore (Maia, $19) came from behind to dominate his rivals in the Singapore Derby consolation stakes, the $75,000 Race Ahead 2010 Stakes Class 3 race over 1800m.
Duric himself was having a day out as well, bagging a second consecutive four-timer after last week's. In All His Glory was the third pin of a four-timer, following wins on Hard Too Think (see earlier report) and the James Peters-trained Well Deserved ($17) in the $30,000 Quechua 2015 Stakes Class 5 race over 1000m before he added a fourth success aboard Smoke And Mirrors ($13) for Lee Freedman in the $20,000 Chase Me 2012 Stakes Open Maiden over 14000m.
After a brief shaky time when Maia closed down on him with his famous seven-timer, Duric has returned to a safer buffer courtesy of the massive haul. He now sits on 47 winners, 16 clear of Maia, who is doing his best to stay in touch, having brought up a riding double with Boomba and Hardcore.
