The lure of another lucrative sales-restricted race has persuaded trainer Henry Dwyer to keep last-start Moonee Valley winner Rocky Boomboa in work for the Inglis Dash.
Dwyer says the gelding will be ready for battle again in Saturday’s $250,000 race for three-year-olds at Flemington which is restricted to horses nominated for the Inglis Race Series.
A decisive early move from Damien Oliver to circle the field and take up the running on Rocky Boomboa in the VOBIS Gold Carat on January 2 at Moonee Valley helped the gelding to a hard-fought win in the $150,000 race.
“That was his main target race and probably if he hadn’t have won he would have been going to the paddock because he has been up a fairly long time,” Dwyer said.
“This race is only a fortnight later and he pulled up really well so we thought we’d roll the dice for the sake of keeping him in work for another fortnight.
“He’ll go into this in the same order he was in last time.”
Dwyer believes Rocky Boomboa can be competitive if he takes the same form to Flemington where he will again be ridden by Oliver.
“There might be more talented horses in there but he does everything right. That’s his best attribute,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer is hoping Tokyo Tycoon also gains a start having finished seventh first-up in the VOBIS Gold Carat at his second start.
He is 22nd in the ballot with a field limit of 16 plus four emergencies.
“I’ve always probably had a superior opinion of him to the other horse,” Dwyer said.
“Tokyo Tycoon is fitter for that run but his main issue is still being a colt. He’s got a really good nature but he just does a couple of colty things.”
Dwyer will put blinkers on Tokyo Tycoon and said he needed to behave better than he did at Moonee Valley to be a chance.
But he certainly would not be surprised to see him measure up.
“He’s a very talented horse but if he doesn’t measure up on Saturday we’ll be gelding him because he’s obviously not showing his true ability if he’s not competitive on Saturday,” the trainer said.
The Peter Moody-trained Gold Symphony, winner of the Vain Stakes and McNeil Stakes early in the season, headlines the 31 nominations.
