What started as a nomination swap between old family friends ten years ago ended in Spirit of Booms fifth stakes winner at Morphettville on Saturday.
"Scott thought it would be a nice idea to support each other's stallions, so we sent Almah to Red Dazzler and Scott sent Precious Pearl to Good Journey back in 2008," Sam Hayes explained.
The result of the Good Journey mating was a filly called Done Deal. Whilst not making many headlines on the race track Done Deal was the reason current Arrowfield stallion Dundeel had to change his name to It's a Dundeel on arrival in Australia.
After selling Done Deal as a yearling the team at Eureka acquired her back at the end of her racing career and sent her to their first season sire Spirit of Boom.
"We were keen to make sure that we had Spirit of Booms racing in every state, so we asked Sam and Emily if they would like to invest in some foals with us to sell in Adelaide," Scott McAlpine said.
The Spirit of Boom filly out of the Good Journey mare Done
Deal was one of the foals on offer and the association had come full circle.
"Scott explained that she was a first foal and not overly big, but he liked her."
"We sold her here in Adelaide to Richard Jolly for $23,000 and we were all delighted when she won by five lengths at Murray Bridge first up," Hayes Said
Heavens Deal put in a professional performance to become the fifth individual stakes performer for Spirit of Boom winning the $125,000 SAJC Queen Adelaide Stakes on Saturday.
"Lloyd Kennewell bought the full sister from us in Adelaide this year for $125,000 prior to Heavens Deal racing, which just goes to show what a difference twelve months can make," McAlpine said.
"The Spirit of Boom story highlights that if you work hard, persist and do the right thing, good things can happen. We were just happy to be a small part of the script on Saturday," Hayes concluded.
Spirit of Boom is standing at Eureka Stud at $55,000 inc. GST this season.
