Top Team Strikes a Blow with Fast Phantom

The top Tolga team of trainer Sharlee Hoffman and jockey Lacey Morrison broke the shackles off a quiet summer when new acquisition Phantom Spirit cruised to a brilliant win at Cluden Park yesterday.

Phantom Spirit was heavily backed with bookmakers to run a $2.8 favourite and cruised to an impressive win in the Hygain BM 60 Hcp (1000m).

The win was the best possible statement from the Hoffman-Morrison combination that they’re back in business after a scaled back summer.

“Lacey always does a great job. She rides them all work and we make a good team,” Hoffman said.

“We’ve been a bit quiet through the heat. I thought I’d cut right back and have a break because I haven’t had any real time off for a few years.

“It wasn’t really taking a toll or anything, it was just a chance to clear the head and freshen up before getting back into it.

“I went away on holidays for a month in January and drove to Newcastle and caught up with family and friends along the way. 

“It was a good break and a win today was a nice way to get things going again.”

Phantom Spirit is raced by a large ownership group put together by prominent owner Shaun Flanagan who secured the Spirit Of Boom gelding from the Sunshine Coast stables of the late Mick Mair.

Hoffman is already looking forward to carnival time with the five-year-old after possibly one more start.

“There might be another race for him in a couple of weeks, but we’ll see how he pulls up,” Hoffman said.

“We might run him here and if he’s good enough we might freshen him up for carnival.

“I’ve had him for about five weeks. He did a lot of pre-training down south so most of the work was done and I just had to tune him when he came up.

“He showed a bit of potential in his gallops up home but with first starters you always just want to see what they can do race day.

“I was quietly confident, but really I just wanted to see him run well.

“I’ve got a few new ones and all the good ones are still out in the paddock at the moment, like Maquereau and Arise My Son - I think something of him too.

“We’re just slowly bringing them back in.”

Phantom Spirit’s win provided Morrison, the defending Townsville premiership holder, with the second leg of a winning double and elevated her to within a win of this season’s  ladder leader Nathan Day with 15 wins.

Morrison scored earlier in the day on Blondie’s Secret in the Brown Brothers 3YO Mdn Hcp (1200m) for Wulguru trainer Bub Baker.

“It’s obviously been slow over the Christmas-New Year period. Sharlee has hardly had any runners, so it’s good to be riding winners. I’m also very grateful for rides I’ve been picking up from outside stables,” Morrison said.

“I think Phantom Spirit is going to be a carnival horse. We just weren’t too sure – we were thinking of kicking him off at the non-TABs but when I first worked him along, just the feel he gave me was very good.

“It was nice to see him come out and do what he did today and hopefully he can chase some nice races over carnival.

“Blondie’s Secret did a great job. I was a bit worried being first-up and she gets fairly stirred up before the race but she had a nice run and got the job done.”

Pictured: Phantom Spirit with Sharlee, Lacey, and connections after taking out the Hygain BM 60 Hcp (1000m).

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