Trainer Michael Freedman will weigh up whether to give Time To Boogie his first chance at stakes level at Canterbury or wait a few more days for a benchmark race at Randwick.
Freedman plans to accept for Time To Boogie in Wednesday’s Listed Canterbury Sprint (1200m) before assessing whether to run the five-year-old there or wait for a Benchmark-88 over the same distance on Saturday.
“We’ll just see how Wednesday shapes up and we’ll have the option of Randwick on Saturday instead if we decide to go that way,” Freedman said.
Time To Boogie was only narrowly beaten when chased down in the final strides by Iowna Merc in an 1100m benchmark-94 at Randwick on December 21, in what was an encouraging first-up performance from the gelding after a lengthy lay-off.
“For a horse that’s been off the scene for nearly 12 months, I thought he ran terrific,” Freedman said.
“He all but won. I think he’s come on well from that run and whether he goes to Wednesday, depending on that field, or Randwick next Saturday it looks like he’s hopefully in for a good campaign.”
Time To Boogie had been off the scene since January this year and during that time off he underwent throat surgery.
“He developed a little ulcer in his throat which got infected so he had to go out for that and then he came back in and it progressively got worse, so we eventually had to do a tie-back throat surgery,” Freedman said.
“So then he had two months off after that and in the end we just bit the bullet and said, ‘let’s just give him a good three months off and start again’.”
Along with Iowna Merc and Time To Boogie, another four horses from that recent Randwick race are also among the 13 nominations for the Canterbury Sprint.
Given Time To Boogie has four wins and another eight placings from his 15 starts to date, Freedman expects the consistent galloper can be competitive in whichever race he heads to in the next week.
Acceptances for the Canterbury Sprint are taken on Monday while acceptances for Saturday’s Randwick meeting close on Tuesday.
“He’s a really good, competitive horse,” Freedman said of Time To Boogie.
“He rarely runs a bad race unless he’s got a genuine excuse.”
