EF NOV 14 - TEMPLE OF BOOM'S SMART FIRST-UP WIN

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Monday, November 16, 2009

Eagle Farm, November 14, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 9m.
3yo QTIS Handicap - 1000m. Time: 56.92.
1 Temple Of Boom; 2 Our Mr Cashman; 3 Daneomite.

The more-than-useful Temple Of Boom returned to action here in his first race as a three-year-old and in his first run as a gelding. The other change was that blinkers were on for the first time and he was going back to 1000m first-up after being tried over 1200m in the final two starts of his last prep.

Jockey Michael Cahill punched Temple Of Boom out smartly at the break and he was never more a length off the lead as the field sprinted down to the home turn. Temple Of Boom turned in the leading line, three off the fence with Manhattan Angel along his inside and Mayamac, inside that again, on the rail.

Cahill allowed Temple Of Boom more rein on straightening and he edged into the lead, but there was plenty of work left to do early in the straight as a wall of runners snapped at his heels, testing his resolve.

Temple Of Boom was up to that challenge though. By the 180m he had dropped all of his rivals with the exception of Our Mr Cashman, who stuck doggedly to the task of reeling in the leader. Our Mr Cashman is a far larger horse than Temple Of Boom. Size-wise, it would have been an uneven contest, but Temple Of Boom came through the challenge again, as his ability and will to win kept Mr Cashman at bay, albeit by a narrow margin.

This was a very good effort from a horse which has caught the eye from day one. His next assignment should be followed with keen interest.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Tony Gollan: “He was gelded after his last preparation. He got gelded so he wouldn’t get too heavy and that. As a youngster he was always feeling his shins a bit and needed some time. He was probably never meant to be a two-year-old.

“He’s not that big, but he was getting a bit heavy and we thought our best option was to geld him. You know he was never going to be a stallion or anything like that, so we decided to geld him and give him a chance to develop into a nice horse as a three, four and five-year-old.

“He came up pretty ordinary after his gelding operation and I wondered there for bit whether we’d done the right thing, but it’s come good now.

“Yeah, we put the blinkers on. The Piccolos seem to like the blinkers on and it’s done the job. He had a fair bit of improvement in him the horse and you can see that in him. I think after this run he will bloom and really start shining up. His coat’s not even through yet.

“He’s been in work a fair while. As I said, we gelded him in his spell and he sort of took a while to get up this time. I don’t know whether it was the gelding or what it was. He really only started hitting his straps in the last ten days ... two weeks. I went into the race confident he would run really well, but we knew he had a lot of improvement.

“Hopefully we are going to be at the Magic Millions day in January at the coast. That’s our main goal, the three- year-old race if possible. If he gets to it obviously ... over 1400, up in distance. But this is where we wanted to start today and then we’ve got few options leading into that. If he can keep ticking the boxes like he has today he’ll get there.

“I think he’ll probably get 1400. I think he settles so well. Like, you can fire him up. Mick (Cahill) rode him very hard today, like I told him to. Mick said he wanted to let him settle a bit today and I said no, I want you to be very aggressive in the first furlong today ... because I knew there would be a fair bit of pace on, especially with the big hype about the favourite (Alesprit). Because of all the pace in the race, we wanted to be there.

“So he was probably more aggressive than he would have usually been today, but he switches off then and travels, then he has a kick in him ... so, we’ll go to 1200m a couple of weeks ... in either two weeks or a month. We’ll just see how he pulls up. He is a bit big. We will just see how much it takes out of him. Happy for him to have come back and win like that.

“I was very impressed with the run. The time was not totally unexpected. The track has been running very good times today, so I won’t take too much from that. As I say, he’s not through in his coat yet, so hopefully when he cleans up we can get over a little bit more journey and he can improve some more.”

Jockey Michael Cahill: “The horse ran well, he was three-wide outside the leaders. Good effort though, he kept fighting. But he is the kind of horse that always keeps a bit in reserve for the finish and he battled on well.

“Tony (Gollan) wanted me to ride him aggressive early and I did and that’s why I ended up outside the leaders. To the horse’s credit he battled on. I think he will improve a bit on that.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Temple Of Boom): 4.20 out to 4.80 in to 4.60.
Favourite (Alesprit): 1.90 in to 1.80 out to 2.00. Finished fifth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Temple Of Boom (M. Cahill), Our Mr Cashman (S. Seamer), Redibis (K. Banks) and Daneomite (L. Rolls) all raced wide throughout.

L. Cassidy, rider of Femina Fashion, reported that from its wide barrier he was obliged to travel wide in the early stages and as a result he elected to restrain the filly to take a position closer to the fence. L. Cassidy added that Femina Fashion resented being restrained and laid out rounding the home turn however when the filly balanced up inside the 300m it finished the race off very well.

When questioned regarding the performance of Alesprit, G. Baker explained that the filly was very agitated in the enclosure and when parading to the start. G. Baker further added that as a result of being fractious in the barriers, Alesprit missed the start, however travelled quite well in the middle stages and was able to take up a position just behind the speed.

G. Baker stated that whilst he was disappointed for a run between Temple Of Boom and Our Mr Cashman near the 300m, the filly, in his opinion, only finished the race off fairly. Trainer B. Laming was not dissatisfied with the performance of Alesprit and advised stewards, in his opinion, the filly was still learning to race and it would benefit greatly from today's outing. A post race veterinary examination of Alesprit failed to reveal any significant abnormalities.