Lindsay Park’s Caulfield Cup winner Boom Time has arrived safely in Japan ahead of his shot in the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on November 26.
Caulfield Cup winner Boom Time has touched down in Tokyo safely ahead of the 2018 Japan Cup at the end of the month. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
There were talks earlier in the spring that Chris Waller’s triple Cox Plate winner Winx could represent Australia in the Group 1 Japan Cup (2400m), worth approximately AU$7.6 million in prize money.
With the country’s highest ever earning racehorse now in the paddock instead, Flying Spur stallion Boom Time is the sole green and gold contender in the mile and a half classic.
The six-year-old touched down in Tokyo on Tuesday morning, Australian time, and got the all-clear from the stable’s travelling veteran Gary Fennessy according to head trainer and sole owner David Hayes.
“He got through the first bit and now it’s just a matter of how he settles in,” Hayes told Racing Victoria.
Boom Time caused a boilover on October 21 taking out the Group 1 $3 million BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) as a 50/1 outsider, earning him an invitation to the Tokyo feature at the end of November.
The galloper raced again on November 7 in the ‘Race That Stops A Nation’, but could only manage to finish 14 lengths back 15th behind the Lloyd Williams-owned Irish winner Rekindling in the Group 1 $6.25 million Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m).
With the stayer pulling up well after the testing two mile showdown, a decision to head overseas for a Japan Cup bid was quickly made Hayes.
Hall of Famer Hayes enjoyed Japan Cup success in the invitational event back in 1990 when the great Better Loosen Up defeated French raider Ode by a head.
Better Loosen Up remains the sole Australian-trained Japan Cup winner, with the local stayers dominating the results of the past decade winning every edition since 2006.
Australian bookmakers currently have Boom Time installed at around $12 in futures Japan Cup betting.
All-in markets are dominated by defending champion Kitasan Black who is under $3 to continue the gun run of Japanese-trained champions and go back-to-back in the race for the first time since Gentildonna (2012-13).
Jockey Corey Parish has partnered Boom Time three times on the trot this spring in Melbourne and travels over for the Japan Cup ride.
Hayes along with his son Ben and nephew Tom Dabernig are also planning an assault in W.A. this Perth Summer Racing Carnival with two horses targeting the trio of Group 1 races.
Recent Toorak Handicap runner-up behind subsequent Emirates Stakes winner Tosen Stardom, Sovereign Nation targets the Group 1 $1 million Railway Stakes (1600m) – Group 1 $1 million Kingston Town Classic (1800m) double on November 25 and December 9 respectively.
On the Saturday in between, December 2, the team’s four-year-old Star Witness mare Fuhryk runs in the Group 1 $1 million Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) at Ascot Racecourse.