Well-bred gelding Ef Troop has lived up to a good trial to give first-season sire Spirit of Boom his first winner in record style at Doomben.
Ef Troop won at trial at Doomben by 8-1/2 lengths on Tuesday and it wasn’t until Saturday morning that trainer Tony Gollan confirmed he was a definite runner.
A $70,000 buy at the Magic Millions Sales, Ef Troop ($2.15) scored by a neck to Only Want To Sing ($41) with 1-/4 lengths to Catastropohic ($6.50) in the Padua Old Boys Two Year Old (1050m).
Ef Troop ran 60.33 seconds, which took a full second off the previous class record and only slightly over a second outside the course record.
Gollan said he had a big opinion of Ef Troop but had wanted to make certain he had recovered from the trial before starting on Saturday.
“I wasn’t so bullish at the 600m when Catastrophic was going with him but to his credit Ef Troop kept going,” Gollan said.
“It was a great run from a horse having his first start. He is a Magic Millions horse so he can have 10 days in the paddock and then we will start looking at the ($2 million) Magic Millions Classic.”
The win was a special thrill for Gollan as he trained Spirit Of Boom who won the 2014 Doomben 10,000 before going to stud at Eureka Stud on the Darling Downs.
“He has had a couple of seconds earlier this season so it’s great to be the first to train a winner by him. He is going to make a top sire,” Gollan added.
Toowoomba gelding Hopes Eternal ($2.30) who’d won both his only two previous starts was run off his feet and finished fourth.
He will now spell with the winter carnival in mind.
