Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
“He is not a big horse, and he has a super abundance of speed,” said trainer-reinsman Chris Voak after driving the comparatively inexperienced four-year-old Boy Blue to a brilliant victory in the 2130m Book Into Steelo’s Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“And tonight he showed a lot more stamina than he had shown in the past. I planned to over-drive him and I wanted to be in the breeze because I wanted to teach him to settle.
“However, I was happy that he was able to get to the front (with 1200m to travel) even though I expected he would have been able to win from the breeze.”
Boy Blue, the $1.50 favourite, covered the final three 400m sections in 29.1sec., 28.5sec. and 29sec. and strolled to victory by almost three lengths from $101 outsider Beat The Bank, rating 1.55.6.
“Our Crunch Time is a boom horse who won tonight, rating 1.56.6, and we rated 1.55.6 after doing a lot of work early,” said an upbeat Voak. “Boy Blue pulled up big in condition tonight, so there is improvement there.
“He will have a maximum of three more runs before I tip him out for a fortnight and then get him ready for the feature events for four-year-olds.”
Boy Blue is by American sire Rock N Roll Heaven and is the fourth and last foal out of Bettors Delight mare Lulli Midfrew, a modest performer in New Zealand where she raced 24 times for six wins, two placings and $35,23 in stakes. The first three of Lulli Midfrew’s progeny were fillies, none of which who raced.
“A mate of ours, Rick Giometti found Boy Blue in a work-out trial in New Zealand as a two-year-old,” said Voak. “He was rough and raw and rated only 2.10 but you could see that the speed was there.
“Rick negotiated a deal to buy Boy Blue for $80,000, so I phoned Chris Butt, who was here in WA, to get his opinion whether he considered he was worth eighty grand. Chris said that he knew the horse and had helped his cousin Bob Butt to break him in and give him his first two preparations when he revealed he had great natural speed.
“Chris said that Boy Blue could be 18 months away from being a good horse, but he said that if I waited until then I would have to pay double that price. So, I agreed to buy the horse, with Rick having a share in him along with some of our stable’s clients.”
Boy Blue has now had 13 starts for Voak for six wins, three placings and earnings of $51,866.