The Tony Gollan-trained Temple Of Boom, who enjoyed success during the Brisbane Winter Carnival with back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m) and Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m), has been ruled out of the Perth Summer Racing Carnival due to a leg injury.
Temple Of Boom has been ruled out of the Winterbottom Stakes due to a hamstring injury. Photo by Steve Hart.
The eight-year-old gelding was set to contest the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) on November 22 but will now be sent straight to the spelling paddock after injuring the hamstring in his near-side hind leg in the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) on Saturday.
Gollan also announced that Temple Of Boom may miss out on the Sydney autumn carnival, instead waiting for another crack at Brisbane during the winter after it produced success this year.
“He will have six weeks in the paddock and miss the summer in Perth,” Gollan told TVN.
“Whether we bring him back for the Sydney autumn remains to be seen.
“At his age he is probably starting to get below the Sydney autumn standard and we might keep him instead for another crack at the Brisbane winter.”
The top Queensland sprinter had a mixed spring campaign after his success in Brisbane, which began with a second placing in the Group 3 Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) on September 13. He went right down the outside of the track with no cover and gave the winner a cart into the race. He did his usual honest thing but was no matched for Chautauqua, who went on to blitz the season.
He then faced Chautauqua once again in the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m). He was more forward in this run and boxed on bravely to just miss out on third place by a shoulder. After that he travelled to Moonee Valley for the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m). He may have finished sixth but he was right in the finish to just miss out by half a length.
His final spring campaign start was in the 2014 Darley Classic at Flemington on Saturday where he injured his hamstring. After getting held up mid divison he was the first horse off the bit as they all entered the course proper however he just couldn’t get going when the power went on.
Gollan will still be represented during the Perth summer carnival by Alma’s Fury, who is set to run in the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) on the same day as the Winterbottom.
“He had no luck at all in the spring and he wasn’t far behind some top-class horses when he had no luck,” Gollan said of the seven-year-old gelding who finished second last time out in the Group 3 Yellowglen Stakes (1400m).
“I think he has a real chance in Perth.”
Alma’s Fury is a $15 shot to win the 2014 Railway Stakes in the Ladbrokes.com.au betting market.
