Reflections: Thorndon Mile winner has finishing sprint to race in best company.
Big, one-paced young horses don't always end their careers that way. Booming hasn't, not that he's finished yet.
What those raw-boned one-pacers often lack as young horses is strength, the muscle to allow them to lift up their big frames and sprint.
Maturity with age often fixes the problem, as it did with Booming.
The winner of Saturday's 1600m $200,000 Thorndon Mile at Trentham had his first two career starts at 1600m and couldn't win a race until he reached 2100m.
A little less than a year ago he finished second in Zavite's 3200m Auckland Cup.
The sign something had changed was when Booming came back to racing this preparation.
Jeff Lynds stepped him out over 1200m - he had never previously tried such a sprint - and he won it.
It has taken until his sixth year to produce the sprint to allow him to reach the top grades over the shorter courses.
His sire Don Eduardo was by Zabeel from Diamond Lover, the record-holding winner of the 1200m Railway, yet Don Eduardo himself raced very dour, even when winning the 2400m AJC Derby.
Unlike Booming, Don Eduardo was retired in the autumn of his 4-year-old racing.
Punters were caught off guard when Booming won the group one Zabeel Classic (2000m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day and again on Saturday.
So was Opie Bosson.
"I offered the ride to Opie a fair way back and he didn't want it," said Jeff Lynds.
"I told him he was mad. This is a pretty good horse."
In the past month Lynds has converted more than a few to that line of thought.
Booming missed out on making it anywhere near the Melbourne Cup field last spring, but he'll get closer this time.
And with the sprint he now has he could be competitive.
Roi D'Jeu showed how important a sprint is to a stayer when he overcame getting into the clear late on Saturday to grab a last-stride victory in the $40,000 Virginia Turner Summer Cup.
Trainer Shaune Ritchie is looking to sneak Roi D'Jeu into the $1 million Stella Artois Auckland Cup on March 9 with a low weight and he may be just about there.
James McDonald had the choice of two gaps early in the home straight on Roi D'Jeu and the inside one he chose closed on him.
Fortunately the outside space was still available when he switched late and he barely had time to balance the horse before launching him and the pair came dangerously close to running out of ground.
Roi D'Jeu looks improved for his break and is worth staying with.
STAY ON THE RAIL
Having most runners going wide for better ground on the first two days at Trentham had one byproduct - the inside was the place to be on Saturday.
Until the rain came for the last three races they couldn't win out wide.
At the 600m in the Thorndon Mile there were four horses on the rail starting with the leader Eileen Dubh, then Chinon, Dasoudi and Booming.
Among them they finished first, second, third and fourth.
Forgive anything that scouted wide from the 500m in all but the last three races.
WOW
Debbie and Graeme Rogerson worked wonders with a spell for Dating. The filly's bounce-back in the Desert Gold Stakes was nothing short of stunning.
It had a usually unflappable James McDonald gushing.
"This is a very good filly", and no one could come up with a counter argument.
"And she'll go further than the 1600m."
Waikato Stud has an extremely valuable commodity on their hands.
You have to compliment Debbie Rogerson - she is the ultimate in humility, even in the face of enormous success.
TALENT APLENTY
Loads of emerging talent on Saturday.
The winner of the last, O'Reilly's Prize is one of them. Shantaine and Our Ella Bella are two more, even though both were beaten in Race 9.
Shantaine's run was terrific.
BACK THESE
Zennista: Next time it rains. Fought well for third in a smart field against the older horses.
Orinda: Perhaps left in front a fraction too soon for an inexperienced horse. Swamped late.
Regal Bay: Struck nothing but trouble when looking for runs in the home straight. Ignore that.
L'Amour: Got to the finish strongly in the Desert Gold and looks to have potential when the distances increase.
FORGIVE
Anything that got back on Saturday.
RAIN NEGATES CLASS
The two best stayers in the Wellington Cup, Mr Tipsy and Showcause, were rendered useless when the rain arrived.
Showcause floundered, but Mr Tipsy was a surprise because he has terrific wet-track form.
STRUGGLED
Pentridge pulled up with respiratory distress and is required to undergo a endoscopic examination and a vet test before next racing.
THAT'S WHAT YOU CALL RAIN
The 180mm of rain that Te Teko copped between 7pm Friday and 7.30am Saturday, causing today's race meeting to be abandoned. That makes 477mm of rain since January 17.
A replacement date of February 6, Waitangi Day, is about to be confirmed.
