Cover image courtesy of Michael McInally
Written by Richard Edmunds
Less than a week after a winning debut on the Sunshine Coast, Prince Of Boom (Spirit Of Boom) handled the step up to the big time with impressive ease at Doomben on Saturday and delivered a fitting result.
The 2-year-old gelding produced a dominant performance in the G2 Champagne Classic, which this year has been named in honour of his sire – Eureka Stud’s star stallion Spirit Of Boom.
Standing for a 2021 service fee of $33,000 (inc GST), Spirit Of Boom now has 13 individual stakes winners to his name after Prince Of Boom burst through along the inside and bounded away to score an emphatic victory by 2.5l.
“As we all know, the crucial thing for the future of any stable is quality, young horses, and I think I might have potentially unearthed another Group 1 horse here,” trainer Rob Heathcote told TDN AusNZ.
“As we all know, the crucial thing for the future of any stable is quality young horses, and I think I might have potentially unearthed another Group 1 horse here.” - Rob Heathcote
“I’ve known he was a nice horse for some time, but I was starting to worry that I was running out of time with him. I was left with no choice but to send him to the Sunshine Coast for his first start just last Sunday, where he jumped from an outside gate on a Heavy track and won (by 4.75l).
“After that, I then had to contemplate backing him up into this race today, which wasn’t easy for him, but he did a great job and won like a very decent horse in the making.
“Now he’ll certainly carry on into the G2 Sires’ Produce S. over 1400 metres in a couple of weeks’ time – both Ben Thompson (jockey) and I are confident that he’ll handle that extra distance. Whether he can then step up again to the mile of the G1 JJ Atkins after that remains to be seen. It’s possible he’s a little too brilliant for that. But we’ll follow the old cliché and just cross each bridge as we come to it.”
Prince Of Boom as a yearling
Prince Of Boom was bought for just $20,000 by owners Adrenaline Thoroughbreds at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale. With two starts and two wins to his name, he has already earned $167,500 in stakes.
Saturday’s spectacular performance saw Prince Of Boom join a long line of Champagne Classic winners for Heathcote.
“This race has been pretty good to me over the years, and I’ve managed to win it four times now,” he said. “I had my first win in the race way back in 2000 with Chenar, back when I was just starting out, and then Funtantes in 2009 and Rothfire last year.”
Rob Heathcote and Damian Browne
Rothfire has taken Heathcote to the highs and lows of racing since that victory 12 months ago, scoring brilliant wins in the G1 JJ Atkins and G2 Run to the Rose before breaking down in the G1 Golden Rose.
“We’ve been through a lot with Rothfire since he won this race last year, it was horrible when he suffered that potentially career-ending injury back in the spring,” Heathcote said. “But now he’s on the comeback trail, and hopefully now we’ve got a bit more to look forward to with this horse as well.”
Later in the card, Outback Barbie made it a stakes double for Spirit Of Boom when taking out the Listed Magic Millions Bright Shadow for her fourth black-type victory.
