Co-owned and co-bred by Eureka Stud and his trainer Rex Lipp, Simply Fly was winning for the seventh time in his career, but most significantly he was adding the first stakes win to his record which saw the stallion’s total stakes-winning tally swell to 18.
All That Pizzazz provided Spirit Of Boom with a 2-year-old winner when he followed up his debut victory with a win at Rockhampton.
The stallion was also represented by a winner at Cowra courtesy of Areeba Spirit’s victory, while 3-year-old fillies Chatty Lady and Rising Spirit took out their races at Doomben and Roma respectively.
Harry McAlpine, who works as the stallion nomination manager at his family’s Eureka Stud, told TDN AusNZ that Simply Fly had been catalogued for both the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale and Magic Millions National Yearling Sale in 2019, but was retained to race.
“He was actually catalogued to go to the Inglis Premier Sale, but he got quite a severe chip that pretty much rendered him unsaleable, so we had to hold on to him, but it worked out alright,” said McAlpine.
The gelding is out of Express Air (Piccolo {GB}), who Lipp saddled to three career victories, headlined by a win in the 2009 G2 Queensland Guineas.
Express Air, dam of Simply Fly, winning the G2 Queensland Guineas in 2009 | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Spirit Of Boom’s rise to the top has been well-documented, starting his career in the breeding barn at a fee of $11,000 (inc GST) and Simply Fly becomes the 16th stakes winner conceived off that early fee.
“The season is going great. He has really got some momentum going now and obviously that stakes winner today was from one of his previous crops from a lesser fee, so I think that’s 16 stakes winners bred off an $11,000 fee, so it’s going super and hopefully he can keep steam-rolling,” said McAlpine.
The past 12 months have been lucrative ones for Spirit Of Boom, with the son of Sequalo having sired 126 winners from 264, which fires at a strike-rate of 69.6 per cent, while he has sired seven stakes winners this season, headlined by G1 Manikato S. winner Jonker. The stallion is sitting eighth in Australia’s Champion Sire table.
Meanwhile, in terms of juveniles, Spirit Of Boom is locked in a ding-dong battle with Better Than Ready as they fight it out to be crowned the Champion Sire of 2-Year-Olds by number of winners, with Spirit Of Boom having sired 20 juvenile scorers, one adrift of his Lyndhurst Stud-based rival who has been represented by 21.
Better Than Ready is in a battle with Spirit Of Boom for the Champion 2-Year-Old Sire title by number of winners | Standing at Lyndhurst Stud
“He’s obviously vying for the title of most 2-year-old winners for the season, but he’s actually had a lot less runners than the rest of them and he’s actually firing quite close to 50 per cent winners-to-runners, it has been quite impressive.
“It is good as well because we haven’t seen a lot of his horses yet and the trainers seem to have quite big opinions of them. I think there is plenty more to come.”
McAlpine said the wet weather Australia has had this year has also affected Spirit Of Boom’s year, given his progeny are not known for their love of sodden conditions.
Harry McAlpine | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“What is even more interesting is that we have had a very wet year and Spirit Of Boom’s progeny are not known for going in the wet, although Simply Fly doesn’t seem to mind it, but his dam loved it as well,” he said.
“But the wet weather has made it more difficult because we have lost some opportunities because of that, but that’s the nature of the game.”
In 2018, Spirit Of Boom had his fee increased to $55,000 (inc GST), while in the following two seasons he stood for $44,000 (inc GST) and in 2022 he was offered to breeders at a fee of $33,000 (inc GST), the same fee he will stand the upcoming breeding season for.
McAlpine said they could have possibly increased his fee for the next season, but decided to keep it unchanged.
“We could have gone up, but we thought that while we wait for the better ones to come through we would keep firm at $33,000 and make him look like a very good option in a very competitive market. His book is full and was booked up pretty quickly,” said McAlpine.
