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Is it silly to wax lyrical about a horse whose best three victories have come at handicap level by a collective margin of half a length?
At the conclusion of a fantastic Spring Carnival it is Boban, a winner of five from five this preparation including Saturday’s Emirates Stakes (1600m, Group 1, handicap), who was the star of the show from my point of view.
Boban has never raced at weight-for-age before. In fact, he’s only met a handful of horses that have won at weight-for-age.
But the gelding could be the pick of a four-year-old group that includes the likes of It’s A Dundeel, Hawkspur, Dear Demi, Royal Descent, Samaready, Epaulette and Rebel Dane. In fact, Boban could be the pick of the nation’s thoroughbreds.
After all, the title is there for the taking. The Cox Plate (2040m, Group 1, weight-for-age) was won by a maiden three-year-old.
The Melbourne Cup (3200m, Group 1, handicap) was won by an import who had never previously won at Group 1 level. The VRC Sprint Classic (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age) was won by a horse that needed 18 attempts to break his Group 1 duck.
Australian racing has a spot open for a new champion. And I’ve got a strong feeling that champion lives at Chris Waller’s stables. In fact there could be two housed there.
Because if it isn’t Boban, then certainly Zoustar, the winner of the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m, Group 1, three-year-olds) on Derby Day, has a claim on the title of Australia’s best horse.
He was fantastic in winning that Group 1 last weekend and he was equally good when he exploded past the nation’s best three-year-olds in September’s Golden Rose (1400m, Group 1).
I’m a big fan of the Cox Plate winner Shamus Award but even I think Zoustar is the better three-year-old.
Zoustar against the great filly Guelph – over a mile or even 1400m – though, would be a good race. I love Guelph but I’m happy to admit that Zoustar would start favourite in such a match-up.
Every indication is Zoustar, who will be at stud in 12 months, may get his chance to prove his wares on the world stage at Royal Ascot next June. If he makes the trip, it’ll be worth staying up for!
Now back to Boban. The question I posed at the top of the article is a good one. If you look at his form on paper it reads like a horse on a meteoric rise.
Twelve months ago Boban, trained at that stage by Anthony Freedman, went into the 2012 spring off the back of a promising two-year-old campaign that yielded a Listed (two-year-olds) win over 1350m in Brisbane.
On Stakes Day he ran in the Hilton Hotels (1400m, Listed, three-year-olds handicap) and was third last in a field of 13. As a horse with plenty of ability, Boban wasn’t putting his best hoof forward.
In the 2013 autumn, now trained by Chris Waller and racing as a gelding, he was twice second at Stakes level against his own age.
But this spring, he rose from restricted-grade Saturday victories to success in time-honoured Group 1 mile handicaps – the Epsom and the Emirates.
In the Epsom he carried 53kgs but in the Emirates he carried second-top weight, 57kgs.
To win the Emirates with four kilos more than what he carried in the Epsom (a race he won in a photo) is an outstanding achievement. It’s just another indication of the steady improvement Boban continues to make.
If Boban can continue on that upward spiral he will be a force at weight-for-age. After all, weight-for-age racing is the next logical step in his rise up the ranks.
But I’m sure Boban is better than a weight-for-age horse. Contrary to what his slender winning margins indicate, Boban brings an X-Factor with him to the races that you rarely see in a great horse. And, for Boban, that X-Factor is a freakish ability to make up ground very quickly in a race.
Boban’s acceleration wins him races he has no right to win. In the Moonga (1400m, Group 3, handicap) on Caulfield Cup Day, Boban was at the back of the field at the 600m mark when he was inconvenienced and lost a few lengths. It should’ve ended his chances.
But at the top of the straight he got balanced up and unwound a super-fast section of 11.05s between the 400m mark and the 200m mark (some two lengths faster than any other section produced by any other horse in the race). He then proved too strong at the finish.
When a horse wins when they shouldn’t, they showcase champion qualities – they show themselves to be a horse with real class.
And in the Moonga, Boban had no right to win. Not only did he suffer interference in the run but he had just travelled down from Sydney, was dropping back from 1600m to 1400m in the middle of a campaign and was carrying the top weight of 59.5kgs. What a remarkable victory!
I was taught a few years ago that the best way to measure class in a thoroughbred is in the sectional times they are able to produce. After all, the sport is called ‘racing’.
And it’s Boban’s turn of foot – that ability to churn out a super-fast sectional – that makes him a star.
In Saturday’s Emirates, Boban produced the fastest last three furlongs (600m-400m; 400m-200m and 200m-finish) to win the Emirates. It was sustained speed with the handicap of 57kgs.
In the Epsom, when he won by a similarly narrow margin, again he showed sustained speed as he made a winning run wide on the course coming from near enough to last.
In the Moonga, it was sharp acceleration rather than sustained speed that won Boban the race. So he isn’t one dimensional. ‘Exciting’ is probably the right word.
Boban is simply too good for handicap racing. And he’s only getting better. Waller indicated on Saturday that the Queen Elizabeth (2000m, Group 1, weight-for-age) at the end of the Sydney Carnival next April will be the logical time to step Boban up in distance.
A crack at the 2014 Cox Plate may be in the back of Waller’s mind. I think the Sydney premiership-winning trainer is on the right path. I’m sure Boban has a big-race win in him. I’m just not sure what it is.
It could be at Royal Ascot or on Dubai World Cup night. It may come in a Cox Plate or even in Hong Kong. I think Boban is that good.
But if Boban was my horse – and I’d love to own just one a hair in his tail – I’d want to see him trained for the world’s best sprint-mile races.
I think Boban’s best distance is 1400m. But I’m sure he’d perform well in a hard six-furlong race.
In the Australian autumn, the Orr, Futurity and All Aged are all run at 1400m, Group 1 and weight-for-age conditions. What a perfect prelude to a European campaign!
The Diamond Jubilee (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age) on the final night of Royal Ascot is run on one of the hardest 1200m courses in the world. And the July Cup (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age), run in the month of its name at Newmarket, is perhaps the toughest six-furlong race on earth.
But Boban would handle the challenge with relative ease. If Boban takes to straight-track racing – and his racing style indicates he would – then I’ve no doubt he would run well in both those races, especially the July Cup.
Not only is the July Cup one of the premier sprints in Europe but it offers prizemoney of £500,000. For a race in England that’s very good money.
Sometimes in Australia, I feel like trainers make the mistake of travelling our horses a year too late. It’s almost like they decide to take on the world when there is very little left to achieve here. And maybe that’s one of the reasons why we haven’t had a lot of success on the world stage in the last five years.
I’m sure we would have more luck if we tried to conquer the world’s best races in the peak season of any champion horse we’ve got. And for the rising star Boban that’s this season.
Chris Waller doesn’t have an Australian major next to his name. Maybe Boban, a proven sprinter-miler with outrageous ability, isn’t the right horse to deliver the Kiwi his first.
But he’s certainly good enough to make Chris Waller a world-famous name in racing. And that’s why I think Boban and his super stablemate Zoustar, the two stars of Cup week, would be forces on the European stage next winter.
I hope they are given the chance to restore some Aussie pride in racing. They are two horses worth getting excited about.
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