The way Boomwaa has come through a barrier trial at Cranbourne has convinced trainer Henry Dwyer he is ready to make his debut for the stable at Moonee Valley.
Two feature sprints in Melbourne over the Christmas and New Year period are targets for Boomwaa who did his earlier racing with trainer Robbie Laing.
Boomwaa finished a comfortable second in a 990m trial at Cranbourne on Monday.
Dwyer used the trial to gauge Boomwaa’s fitness, saying he had been pretty easy on the gelding so far.
“He had an easy trial this morning and he pulled up like he hadn’t been around,” Dwyer said.
“He’s a bit further forward than I thought he was, so we’ll probably head to Moonee Valley over 1200 metres on Saturday.”
Boomwaa also holds a nomination in the open 1000m race but Dwyer said the 1200m benchmark-90 was the preference.
The Listed Christmas Stakes at Caulfield on Boxing Day and the Group Three Standish Handicap down the 1200m straight course at Flemington on New Year’s Day are Boomwaa’s main summer aims.
“We’ll plot a path to those races and if he wins on the way that would be great, and if not we know he’ll probably be at his peak around that time,” Dwyer said.
Chris Symons rode the Dwyer-trained Sonntag to third in Saturday’s $300,000 Ballarat Cup and will take the ride on Boomwaa.
Dwyer said there were a few options for Sonntag’s next start while longer term the Wellington Cup in January and Auckland Cup in March, both over 3200m in New Zealand, were also on the radar.
Sonntag was being aimed at the New Zealand Cup (3200m) earlier this month but those plans were scrapped when the gelding had a setback which forced him to miss the 2800m race at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day.
Sonntag’s third over 2200 metres at Ballarat was the 2014 Queensland Derby winner’s best performance of the spring.
