By Adam Hamilton
IF there was betting on next year’s Perth Inter Dominion, young local star Beaudiene Boaz would be pushing for favouritism.
While Lennytheshark hogged most of last Sunday’s Perth Inter Dominion day glory, Beaudiena Boaz set plenty of tongues wagging himself with a stunning Group 1 Golden Nugget win.
It was second Group 1 win in the space of nine days a firmly stamped him as the most exciting young pacer in Australia.
Despite being a Group 1 winner at two and three, Beaudiene Boaz was considered a little vulnerable when forced to “work” in his races.
Much like his former stablemate, the champ Im Themightyquinn, Beaudiene Boaz is getting stronger and complete with age.
His Nugget win showcased that to its fullest.
Beaudiene Boaz was bustled out from gate five and had to work seriously hard to get to the lead.
In fact, that lead time of 65.6sec was 0.6sec quicker than they ran in the Inter Dominion final.
And Beaudiene Boaz’s 1min55.7sec mile rate was only one-second outside Im Themightyquinn’s track record for 2536m. It was also just 0.9sec slower than Lennytheshark went in last Sunday’s final.
“There’s no way he could’ve done that a couple of months back. The hard racing is toughening him up,” driver Gary Hall Jr said.
“They really burned in the early stages the other day, but I had to be part of it to take advantage of the draw (gate five) we got.
“What I liked most is how easy he did that burn and how comfy he felt. He just didn’t feel like we were going so fast.”
Despite using the early petrol, Beaudiene Boaz ran his four splits of the last mile in 30.8, 28.5, 28.8 and 28.7sec.
He easily held-off an improved Kiwi Legend, who sat behind the leader throughout, with Beaudiene Boaz’s stablemate Run Oneover running a gallant third after sitting parked.
In a major surprise, Hall Sr revealed after the race he would not be chasing Australia’s biggest four-year-old race, the Chariots Of Fire in Sydney.
“No, he’ll stay home and go for the Fremantle and WA Cups here instead,” he said.
“Sydney is a long way to go, especially when they make you run in two races.
“We can’t do both and we think he’s up to the older horses, so we’ll go for the two big Cups here instead.”
Victorian star Menin Gate’s horror Perth campaign crashed again when he worked early, tried and was virtually retired from the Nugget.
“It’s a shame he didn’t show any of his best form. He never really felt good at any stage over here,” driver Chris Alford said.
Menin Gate is another headline act who will be missing from the Chariots Of Fire.
Connections are sending the Victorian Horse of the Year for a long spell.
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