Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos
When De Sonic Boom rushed over the line on Thursday afternoon in the G3 Blue Diamond Preview (Fillies), the man who bought her was in Bondi with the kids. James Bester knew his Spirit Of Boom filly was no slouch, but he didn’t expect her to hose in, as she did.
“I wasn’t over-confident about her,” he said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “I had no doubts about her ability, but her trials indicated that she was still on a steep learning curve. She wasn’t even the most favoured of the Freedman runners, and Mark Zahra, who’d had a trial on her, had elected to ride another one.”
As such, all fingers pointed away from De Sonic Boom winning the Preview on Thursday, so when she did win, nailing valuable blackntype on debut, Bester was a happy chappy in busy Bondi.
“A surprise, yes, but you’re always hoping,” he said. “When they jump out of the stalls, miss the start and are slow into stride, as she was, your heart sinks and you just wonder why you didn’t put blinkers on.”
“A surprise, yes, but you’re always hoping. When they jump out of the stalls, miss the start and are slow into stride, as she (De Sonic Boom) was, your heart sinks and you just wonder why you didn’t put blinkers on.” - James Bester
The manner of De Sonic Boom’s victory was breathless. At the turn for home, she was on the rails but had much of the 12-horse field in front of her. Jockey Jordan Childs had plenty to do to get her out and get her going, and she wasn’t in the picture until the 100-metre mark.
Thereafter, she pinned her ears, gritted her teeth and burst away from placegetters Zousuko and Sensical, both by Zoustar, in a fashion that impressed even Bester.
“Thank goodness this race was at Sandown,” he said. “At Caulfield, she certainly would not have got away with missing the start and turning for home effectively last. Sandown has that lovely uphill finish and it’s a longer straight, so let’s say the cards fell our way.
“But she did it most impressively. She kept finding and she was surging away at the finish with her ears pricked, really. It augurs very well.”
The girl of his dreams
Bester’s first encounter with De Sonic Boom was in the catalogue for the 2022 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale. She was Lot 460, bred by Stephen Whitling and consigned to the draft of Supreme Thoroughbreds. Bester bought her for $300,000.
De Sonic Boom was a daughter of the Fastnet Rock mare Demasheen, something Bester particularly liked. She was also a half-sister to the Toronado (Ire) stakes winner Laverrod, something Bester also particularly liked.
James and Bridget Bester | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
The bloodstock agent had pinhooked Laverrod in 2018 successfully, and the horse went on to win the Listed Hareeba S. while placing in a number of other stakes races. He was fourth in the G1 Winterbottom S. and, still in training with Sean and Jake Casey in Western Australia, he has won seven races and over $700,000.
“Laverrod was very gorgeous and very good, so I wanted to like this filly,” Bester said. “The minute I saw her, I just knew it was the girl of my dreams. A famous old South African breeder taught me that about 50 years ago… that when you get home from a sale, if you don’t have the feeling that you’ve just won the woman of your dreams, you’ve got the wrong horse.”
“Laverrod was very gorgeous and very good, so I wanted to like this filly (De Sonic Boom). The minute I saw her, I just knew it was the girl of my dreams.” - James Bester
De Sonic Boom was a clean-bay yearling without a patch of white. She was simple but perfect, according to her buyer.
“She was the pick of that draft, let alone of the fillies in it,” Bester said. “She had the kind of physique that I go for. She had a powerful hindquarter, which all the Spirit Of Boom stock has, a very good hindleg, the usual short cannon, good forearm and gaskin, and a very good head.”
Bester wasn’t ringside when the gavel fell on De Sonic Boom. He was sitting in an airplane, bidding by telephone.
“If that plane had taken off five minutes early, I would have missed her,” he said. “After I got her, Tony McEvoy rang me right away and said he was the underbidder and please could he train her. But she’d already been promised to Anthony Freedman.”
Sam Freedman after De Sonic Boom won the G3 Blue Diamond Preview (Fillies) | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
De Sonic Boom was bought for a Bester partnership with Michael Kirwan and Kia Ora’s Ananda Krishnan, among others. She would go to Anthony and Sam Freedman, which was news that Bester also had to convey to Tony Gollan.
“Right after Tony McEvoy, Tony Gollan rang me, the Spirit Of Boom man,” Bester said. “So I was never more certain I’d bought the right horse. If no one else had wanted her, I might have been a bit more concerned.”
A Supreme product
For the crew at Supreme Thoroughbreds, De Sonic Boom’s win on Thursday was equally welcome.
Farm manager Ben Tyrell and general manager Brent Grayling were x-raying their upcoming Premier draft at the time of the win, but it was good cheer all round when the result came up.
The team at Supreme Thoroughbreds: Neil and Sue Shaw with Adrienne and Brent Grayling | Image courtesy of Supreme Thoroughbreds
De Sonic Boom was one of 25 horses Supreme Thoroughbreds had in the Premier Sale last year, and the only one by Queensland stallion Spirit Of Boom. According to Grayling, Bester wasn’t the only one smitten with the filly.
“She was always a very strong, forward filly,” he said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “We had her on the farm all the way through, and the mare is owned by a very good client of ours in Steve Whitling. He bought the mare carrying Laverrod, and this filly was a standout.
“We had an exceptional bunch of fillies last year and she was, in my opinion, the best of them. If I’d had to pick one, she was the one I would have had. She was a cracker.”
“We had an exceptional bunch of fillies last year and she (De Sonic Boom) was, in my opinion, the best of them. If I’d had to pick one, she was the one I would have had. She was a cracker.” - Brent Grayling
Like Bester, Grayling said the filly had a superb hindquarter.
“She was just so big and strong,” he said. “She was powerful.”
De Sonic Boom sold on reserve at $300,000. It was the best price for any of Demasheen’s progeny to that point and still is. Her Written Tycoon colt was bought at the same sale in 2019 by Yulong for $135,000, while Demasheen herself had cost Whitling $120,000 when bought at the 2017 Magic Millions Nation Broodmare Sale from Glenesk Thoroughbreds.
Demasheen | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
The mare lives permanently at Supreme Thoroughbreds in Romsey. She produced a Toronado filly in the spring and visited Pinatubo (Ire) at Darley in mid-October, and she’s now the dam of two significant stakes winners.
“We weren’t surprised when James Bester went in for this filly,” Grayling said. “Hips don’t lie, that’s his saying. He always wants to buy the fillies with big hips.”
The Fastnet factor
For Spirit Of Boom, the G3 Blue Diamond Preview result was yet another notch in his bedpost.
De Sonic Boom was stakes winner number 30 for Spirit Of Boom and overall winner number 313, and it’s the closest the Eureka Stud sire has got to a G1 Blue Diamond S. since Kinky Boom.
Spirit Of Boom | Standing at Eureka Stud
For Harry McAlpine at Eureka Stud, who was only recently a new father to newborn George, it was yet more proof that the horse is still a sire on fire.
“He’s firing along bloody well this season,” McAlpine said. “He’s already had Malaboom win a stakes race in Queensland, and plenty of his 2-year-olds are going on. It’s particularly pleasing to see him throw a good one out of a Fastnet Rock mare because he throws a good type physically with Fastnet Rock mares.”
“It’s particularly pleasing to see him (Spirit Of Boom) throw a good one out of a Fastnet Rock mare because he throws a good type physically with Fastnet Rock mares.” - Harry McAlpine
This season, Spirit Of Boom has had the Chris Munce filly Miss Coota, a 2-year-old, knocking on doors with two wins from four starts.
She was fifth to The Novelist (Written By) in the G3 BJ McLachlan S. and took her place in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic behind Skirt The Law (Better Than Ready). Miss Coota, like De Sonic Boom, is from a Fastnet Rock mare.
“It’s great to see that cross working,” McAlpine said. “Spirit Of Boom is very good with double Danehill though. He’s got Danehill in his damline, and when he goes over mares of the Danehill line, he’s very effective.
“Most of his best ones have been bred that way, so we always thought Fastnet Rock should work well with him, but he was yet to produce a top-liner from a Fastnet mare. It’s very pleasing that he might have two this season.”
James Bester doesn’t hide his affection for Fastnet Rock mares, and it was a critical sell when he bought De Sonic Boom.
Harry McAlpine, John Foote and Tony Gollan | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
The filly was only the second Spirit Of Boom the bloodstock agent has ever bought, which is surprising. The other was Command Approved, whom he bought for $170,000 from Newgate Farm on the Gold Coast in 2021 and who has won three of seven races for trainer Matthew Smith.
“Spirit Of Boom gets awesome hindquarters,” Bester said. “I bought the two I really liked, and I’m now a big fan of the stallion. But the Fastnet Rock mare played a huge part when it came to De Sonic Boom last year because Fastnet Rock is a super broodmare sire.
“In fact, when you buy anything out of a Fastnet Rock mare, you’re essentially getting a cheap Fastnet Rock because he puts his stamp through his mares as well. I think it’s a good-value way into the Fastnet Rock influence.”
“...when you buy anything out of a Fastnet Rock mare, you’re essentially getting a cheap Fastnet Rock because he puts his stamp through his mares as well. I think it’s a good-value way into the Fastnet Rock influence.” - James Bester
With a Group 3 victory on debut, De Sonic Boom is already priceless for Bester, Kirwan and Krishnan, along with the others in this filly’s ownership. She will race on with obvious targets like the Blue Diamond and/or Golden Slipper, and her value as a broodmare is also assured.
“Her value is franked now,” Bester said. “She’s got residual value because she’s particularly good-looking, as was her mother. Before there was anything in this pedigree, before any black type, her dam was bought by Phil Sly (via Justin Bahen) for $450,000, and that was over 10 years ago.
“Phil bought her purely on the basis of her fabulous physique, and that’s why this filly, De Sonic Boom, who was $300,000 off the back of her stakes-winning brother by that point, represented value to me. Looks run in that family so we can’t wait to breed from her down the track.”
