‘The dream came true, we took advantage of the dream’ – Spirit Of Boom leaves a lasting legacy for Eureka Stud

Spirit Of Boom was more than just a horse for the McAlpines and trainer Tony Gollan.

The Group 1-winning sprinter-turned-champion Queensland stallion changed the lives of the Eureka Stud’s McAlpine family and that of Gollan whose exploits with Spirit Of Boom sent him on a path to being Brisbane’s leading trainer.

Spirit Of Boom, aged 18 and the sire of 32 stakes winners including his Manikato Stakes-winning son Jonker, died suddenly on Tuesday evening after suffering a ruptured bowel.

Retired to stud in 2014 – the same year as subsequent champion first season and Australian sire Zoustar – Spirit Of Boom burst out of the blocks with the Gollan-trained Ef Troop and Outback Barbie winning the Listed Phelan Ready and Calaway Gal on the same day at Doomben in December 2017.

Just five days later, Jonker made it two straight wins with a victory in the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic.

Scott McAlpine reflected on Spirit Of Boom with fondness on Wednesday, recalling the stallion’s remarkable temperament, which carried him on the racetrack and into the serving barn.

“He’s a homebred, so we bred him, we bred his mother, we bred his grandmother, and we bought his great-great-grandmother,” McAlpine told The Straight.

“So, that was probably the pinnacle to produce a leading stallion for Australia (from a family we’ve developed).”

Gollan trained Spirit Of Boom, his brother Temple Of Boom and their dam Temple Spirit, who won eight of her 16 starts and was stakes placed.

It was a sombre mood at Eagle Farm for Gollan on Wednesday morning when he learned of Spirit Of Boom’s death, with the trainer declaring the horse a “career-changer”.

The stakes race double with Outback Barbie and Ef Troop remains a special achievement for Gollan.

“When he went to stud (people said) he was a bit too old, a bit over raced and all the normal reasons why horses won’t make it as stallions and then his first crop came out and went bang straight away,” Gollan said. 

“You had Jonker down south going well and then the two horses up here of ours, so he hit the ground running as a stallion straight away, which is important for a freshman sire to do that. 

“He got a bit ground swelled up and then eventually he started getting better mares and he’s just done a really good job all the way through. He’s been a fantastic stallion for Queensland.”

As a racehorse, Spirit Of Boom took Gollan across the country, winning a Doomben 10,000 in Brisbane and a William Reid Stakes in Melbourne.

He also finished third in the 2012 Winterbottom Stakes in Perth.

Gollan said: “He had a beautiful nature, he was just a lovely horse to train and deal with … he was a very sound horse, he had a great attitude and great nature about him and he’s put that into his progeny.”

Such was Spirit Of Boom’s start at stud, siring 18 first-crop two-year-old winners in Australia, Harry McAlpine left Inglis to return to the farm to work alongside his brother Angus and father Scott to help manage Spirit Of Boom’s book of mares.

Support from a growing base of local, interstate and New Zealand breeders turned him into a commercial success story that stretched beyond the Queensland border.

“It changed our whole family situation, the whole business plan changed, we had the opportunity that you probably dream about. The dream came true, and we took advantage of the dream,” McAlpine said. 

“We improved the quality of our broodmare band, our assets, and we developed the farm. I said to Angus, ‘have a look around here and see what this fella has done for us’. 

“Most people put their money away for a rainy day, but we kept investing it back into the farm because we believe we got the right (property to) breed the right racehorses.” 

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch recalled the “Spirit Of Boom effect” that pervaded the company’s March Yearling Sale of 2018.

A sale put on for the Queenslanders looking to buy and sell locally bred yearlings eligible for the state’s lucrative QTIS bonuses, the emergence of Jonker, Outback Barbie and Ef Troop attracted a whole different demographic of buyers.

There was an influx of interstate agents, owners and trainers who were not seen on the Gold Coast at that time of year, and certainly not for a horse sale.

“From that first crop, it was evident that he was a very promising sire and when we got to the March sale the next year he was responsible for 45 per cent of the gross,” Bowditch said. 

“He had buyers that had never been to the March sale turn up here and engage and buy his progeny and the rest is history. 

“He was obviously a great horse for us to market year in, year out and we look forward to continuing on for a few more crops yet.” 

Owners, trainers and syndicators weren’t the only ones attempting to get a piece of the unheralded Spirit Of Boom during 2017/18.

Newgate, Arrowfield and Coolmore all made significant inquiries about buying Spirit Of Boom just as his first crop two-year-olds were taking all before them during the early part of the season.

Speculation at the time had offers of up to $50 million on the table for Spirit Of Boom.

“When Jonker won that Magic Millions qualifying race at Wyong (in December 2018), I was at home and I said to (my wife) Grania, ‘you watch, the phone will start ringing here in 10 minutes’,” McAlpine told this publication last year. 

“It wouldn’t have been two minutes and Colm (Santry from Coolmore) was on the phone, ‘that stallion of yours’, he said, ‘we need to get him’. I said, ‘why?’ ‘Oh, he’s going to make the grade’. So, I said, ‘good, in that case, I’ll keep him’.”

While Eureka Stud hopes Spirit Of Boom’s legacy can continue for generations to come – they have shares in a number of young colts by him showing promise – McAlpine also revealed that Jonker would relocate to the Darling Downs in the next fortnight.

Jonker stood his first four seasons at Aquis Farm at Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland.

Spirit Of Boom has nine crops of racing age, with his yearlings selling up to $320,000 this year and $575,000 last year. He has 89 weanlings and he served 132 mares in 2025.