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MM Guineas winner back in the groove

3 minute read

Boom times for Munce as Huxtable reaches milestone on stable favourite

BOOMSARA.
BOOMSARA. Picture: Steve Hart

Boomsara survived a protest to land his first success since the 2019 Magic Millions Guineas at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Boomsara prevailed in a very close photo, before Luke Dittman, rider of runner-up Matowi, fired in an objection.

But stewards wasted little time in dismissing the protest, allowing Boomsara to break a 917 day run of outs.

It also provided a landmark moment for apprentice Justin Huxtable, with this win completing the number he needed to outride his claim.

Trainer Chris Munce was delighted for Huxtable and the horse in returning to winning form.

"It was great that Justin could outride his allowance on one of mine," Munce said. "I'm proud I could give him the final winner he needed.

"Don't worry, he will (continue to) ride plenty of winners."

Boomsara had been beaten 14 times since his nail-biting win in the $2M Millions back in January 2019 and Munce said it was not uncommon for a horse that has success early to lose their way for a while.

He pointed to Dance Hero, the horse he rode to Sydney's 2YO Triple Crown in 2004, as an example.

"He didn't win a race for a long time (after his two-year-old year), but went on to win a Group 1 race as a five-year-old," he said.

"When they win big races and a lot of prizemoney, they can go off the boil a bit and start to lack confidence.

"I could sense though with him that things were a bit different this time around."

Gillian Heinrich was back in the Saturday city winning list when Dreamreacher dug deep to win the Class 3 Plate (1400m).

Jimmy Orman took the five-year-old entire to the front but he looked under siege when the Steve Tregea-trained Champagne Aunty challenged soon after turning.

The pair settled down for a ding-dong battle and it was Dreamreacher who stuck his nose out on the line.

Dreamreacher was an easing $3.50 favourite.

Earlier, Tony Gollan took his tally of metropolitan wins for the season to 101.5 when Victoria Park romped home in the 3YO Open Handicap (1800m).

Victoria Park was ridden by Robbie Fradd. It was the second winner for the day missed by leading jockey Ryan Maloney (after Release The Beans for Luke Dittman) after he ruled himself out of the meeting on Saturday morning. 


Racing and Sports

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