Racing: Claim on Magic Millions

Toowoomba Colt Spirit Of Boom stormed into calculations for next week's A$2 million Magic Millions Classic when he raced away in the Prelude at the Gold Coast yesterday.

Spirit Of Boom emulated the performance of his half-brother Temple Of Boom in the same race last year but in much more convincing fashion, scoring by seven lengths.

Starting the well-supported $3.10 favourite, Spirit Of Boom flew out of the barriers and kept running to easily beat General Shareef ($8) with the winner's stablemate Tiyatro ($41) a short half-head away third.

Spirit Of Boom put a big space on his rivals from the 300m mark to the winning post and Toowoomba jockey Kristy Banks hardly moved a muscle on him in the run to the line.

Spirit Of Boom's winning time of 51.92 seconds was fractionally outside the race record of 51.72s set by Illuminates in 2007 and he sprinted home in a sizzling 33.71s making it impossible for his rivals to reel him in.

Winning trainer Tony Gollan said Spirit Of Boom had been specifically trained for the Magic Millions Classic (1200m) and was confident the colt would be further improved over the extra distance.

"I expected him to race well and the blinkers have really switched him on. He will have to be hard to beat on that performance next week."

- AAP