It’s still the middle of winter but Queensland trainer Tony Gollan already has a spring in his step.
Gollan’s two stable stars, half-brothers Temple Of Boom and Spirit Of Boom, have begun their build-up to a new season return with pre-training on a water walker and the trainer is eyeing the Melbourne spring carnival full of optimism.
“I’m absolutely rapt. I got back on Tuesday from three weeks away and drove straight out to where they are at pre-training to see them,” Gollan said.
“It’s definitely the best both of them have come back from the paddock.”
Four-year-old Spirit Of Boom didn’t win during his four-start Queensland winter campaign but was far from disgraced in three Group Ones, finishing fifth in the BTC Cup, fourth in the Doomben 10,000 and sixth in the Stradbroke Handicap.
His older sibling Temple Of Boom was placed in the Doomben 10,000 but his career-defining moment came during the Sydney autumn when he took out the Group One Galaxy (1100m).
A noted straight track specialist at Flemington, Temple Of Boom will be set for feature sprints this spring.
Spirit Of Boom will also have feature race targets but whether he remains at a sprint distance or stretches out to 1600m for the Group One Emirates Stakes is still to be determined.
Gollan has pinpointed the Group Three Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) on September 10 as Spirit Of Boom’s first-up assignment at Flemington but he said Temple Of Boom would return a month later than his stablemate.
“Temple Of Boom is a Group One winner now so he’s probably harder to place than he was 12 months ago,” Gollan said.
“I’ll just see what handicaps he gets and see if Black Caviar is going to the weight-for-age race (Patinack Farm Classic). If she does we might have to duck that and carry some weight in the handicap (Salinger Stakes).”
Temple Of Boom won the Aurie’s Star and Gilgai Stakes at Flemington last spring and was third in the Group Two Salinger Stakes (1200m).
He won a Listed race down the straight during the 2010 Melbourne Cup carnival.
“He’ll be going to the usual big sprints and I’ll try to keep him to the straight at Flemington as much as I can but he might need to go away from there for one race,” Gollan said.
“I’m really excited for the spring and hopefully we can share in some of the spoils down there.
“It’s been good to us the past two years so hopefully we’ll have some success again.”
