The Robbie Laing trained Boomwaa heads the fifteen two year olds nominated for the $250,000 Inglis Classic(1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Boomwaa was impressive winner in the G3 Maribyrnong Plate. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
Boomwaa was an impressive three lengths winner down the Flemington straight in the Group 3 $150,000 The Hong Kong Jockey Club Maribyrnong Plate (1000m) during last year’s Melbourne Spring Carnival before Laing sent the youngster for break.
The Mutawaajid gelding resumed from a short spell with a second to Gai Waterhouse’s Golden Slipper bound Fighting Sun over 1100m at Rosehill on January 4.
After winning at Flemington, Laing immediately set Boomwaa for the Inglis Classic which is a race for two-year-old colts, geldings and fillies run over 1200m, restricted to horses nominated to the Inglis Race Series that were sold or passed in at the Inglis Sydney Classic Yearling Sale: Summer and Winter Book.
“He is a William Inglis Classic horse and that is a very restricted race, you are only allowed to come out of that one sale catalogue, and he was so dominant in the Maribyrnong Plate that we immediately put him out,” Laing told Racing Ahead.
Laing compares Boomwaa with his other former smart two year old Direct Charge who also won the Maribyrnong Plate before running third to Marseille Roulette in the Inglis Classic last year.
“We won the Maribyrnong Plate last year with Direct Charge and he ran third in the Inglis; he was caught up in that heat wave on the way back up there and he was down on his usual performance,” Laing said.
“Because his (Boomwaa) win was so impressive in the Maribyrnong Plate, he may even go better than Direct Charge.”
Laing is anticipating a bright future for the two year old and expects him to be able to run over distances up to 1600m.
“Watching him in the Maribyrnong Plate; the last couple of hundred when Vlad said go on him at Flemington, he hasn’t quickened but just lengthened. 1400 to a mile shouldn’t trouble him,” Laing said.
Unbeaten New Zealand colt Vinnie Eagle is also among the entries and comes to Randwick with two wins from two race starts including a win for trainer Tony Pike at Group 3 level in the NZ$70,000 Barneswood Farm Eclipse Stakes (1200m) at Ellersille in New Zealand on January 1.
Top Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan has nominated two youngsters for the Classic, first starter Smokin Snitzel who has been placed at two recent Rosehill barrier trials and Peggy Jean, a filly by Myboycharlie, who ran second on debut over 1000m on the Kensington track on January 8.
Ryan is searching for another success in the Inglis Classic after race favourite Cavalry Rose stormed home in 2012 to beat Anthony Cummings’ speedy filly Diamond Earth.
