Australian Cup for Mornington Cup Prelude winner Boom Time

Market drifter Boom Time will head towards the Australian Cup after scoring a tough win in the Listed $120,000 Ladbrokes Mornington Cup Prelude (2000m) at Caulfield today.

Boom Time, above, proves too strong to win the Ladbrokes Mornington Cup Prelude at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Boom Time, above, proves too strong to win the Ladbrokes Mornington Cup Prelude at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Boom Time drifted from $6.50 to start at $9 but was too strong for the more fancied Goldstream ($5) who pushed up along the fence by Craig Williams to run second with the winner’s stablemate and favourite Pilote D’Essai ($4.60) with Regan Bayliss in the saddle holding on for third after setting the pace.

Lindsay Park Co-trainer David Hayes said that Boom Time has now earned a chance to run in the Group 1 $1.5m Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on March 11.

“We under rated him a little bit. He just failed at the Gold Coast. Going into the Gold Coast his form was impeccable,” Hayes said.

“His stablemate got a nice soft lead in front and with the benefit of a run I thought he would might be too sharp but obviously Boom Time is a pretty good horse on his day.”

“Maybe we’ll get a bit ambitious and go for the Australian Cup. He’s still an entire and he’s got a stallion’s pedigree.”

Boom Time scored a hat trick of wins with victory in a 2500m Handicap at Flemington December 17 before going to the Gold Coast to run fifth as favourite in the $1m Moet & Chandon Magic Millions Trophy (2200m) on January 14.

Winning jockey Mark Zahra gave Boom Time a soft run behind the leader Pilote D’Essai and when he pulled him out in the straight the Flying Spur stallion was in for the fight and knuckled down over the concluding stages to record a half a length win over Goldestream with  Pilote D’Essai another half a length away in third spot.

“I was in the right spot, they went quick enough and I came out when I wanted and he gave me something to catch that horse,” Zahra said.

“He was strong through the line.”

“There was a bit of a fight in the straight but he was too strong in the end.”

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.