Kiwi rider enjoys cup Boom Time
NEW Zealand jockey Cory Parish has won his first Group I race in one of Australia’s most iconic racing events.
Parish and $41 outsider Boom Time caused a huge boilover in yesterday’s $3.26 million Caulfield Cup (2400m).
Trained by David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig at Flemington, Boom Time beat home Single Gaze by one-anda-quarter lengths, with race favourite Johannes Vermeer a further one-and-a-half lengths behind in third.
Parish, 28, moved to Victoria from his Waikato base in 2013.
‘‘I got to about the 50 (metre mark) and I knew I had it in the bag, he was travelling so well, and I just thought all my dreams were coming true,’’ Parish told AAP. ‘‘I just can’t believe it.’’ Parish, who spent much of riding days in New Zealand apprenticed to Alan Jones, rode 136 winners before crossing the Tasman. On the strength of his win, Boom Time has firmed from $101 to $26 to win the Melbourne Cup.
The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained pairing of Jon Snow and Bonneval finished back in ninth and 14th.
Bonneval, who had to face three inspections by Racing Victoria veterinarians just to start, has been declared lame in the offfore leg for the second time in as many starts by stewards.
They made the same judgement following her sixth placing in last Saturday’s Caulfield Stakes and she was only cleared to run on Thursday afternoon.
Bonneval was caught three wide early and drifted back to last.
Kerrin McEvoy was soon on the move as he tried to advance her position around the pack, but the trip turned into a brutal one and she never looked like being a top-three chance from the 600m mark.
McEvoy told Racing.com he tried to get closer to the leaders, but kept getting pushed wide.
‘‘I still thought we were off the bridle and only average coming home so she moved fine, but she never got into the race today.’’
Jon Snow was handy throughout and battled on bravely for ninth – less than five lengths behind Boom Time.
Jon Snow and his jockey Stephen Baster were hampered a couple of times in the final 350 metres.
Baster said that Jon Snow would have benefited from a bit more sting out of the track.
‘‘We got knocked down in the straight and he picked himself up GETTY IMAGES
‘ I got to about the 50 (metre mark) and I knew I had it in the bag, he was travelling so well.’ CORY PARISH
and kept coming so I thought it was a good run.’’
Former Kiwi runner Humidor finished fifth.
Damian Lane said Humidor ‘‘hung like a rusty gate and cost himself the race’’.
Boom Time proved the adage that top performers rarely come back from serious injury was not always true when he produced one of the biggest boilovers in recent Caulfield Cup history.
The former West Australiantrained galloper might not have been bred to be a distance horse as he is by the Golden Slipperwinning sprinter Flying Spur.
And the odds of him reaching such heights would have been long indeed when he injured a tendon as a younger horse, forcing him to have more than a year off.
But the six-year-old entire has proved himself the epitome of toughness and dependability since his return and he showed that with the right treatment and patience, a good horse can regain plenty of their ability.