Boston ready to rock King of the Mountain

By Glenn Davis

Slot holder Michael Sherrin is hopeful interstate raider Boston Rocks can be competitive in the King of the Mountain at Toowoomba on Friday.

The 75-year-old Sherrin runs an equipment hire business but has only been involved in racing for about eight years.

He now has a private trainer with former Victorian Jim Mason preparing 38 horses, including young stock, on the Sunshine Coast.

Jim Clarke, of Clarke Bloodstock, secured the slot for Boston Rocks as well as being involved with the slot for Rockhampton flyer Chinny Boom.

“Jim has done a fantastic job to get this horse,” Sherrin said.

“They’re not coming up to run second, they’re coming up to win it and they’re bringing Jamie Mott up to ride him.”

Sherrin revealed Boston Rocks wasn’t the slot holders first choice for the King of the Mountain.

“We had another horse Street Chase who Jim (Mason) was getting ready for this race but he had a problem along the way,” Sherrin said.

Boston Rocks has started 17 times for six victories and four placings and will be chasing a hat-trick of wins in the King of the Mountain.

Goulburn’s Matthew Dale trains the four-year-old who won an 1100 metre Benchmark race at Rosehill in February.

The son of Hellbent is coming off a dominant win in a 1200 metre Benchmark race when Dale sent him to Melbourne’s Moonee Valley on March 7.

The $750,000 King of the Mountain has only been run twice but already boasts star winners of the calibre of the Queensland-trained Rothfire and Yellow Brick.

The Tony and Maddysen Sears-trained Yellow Brick claimed the inaugural King of the Mountain on New Year’s Eve in 2022 before Robert Heathcote’s Group 1-winner Rothfire was successful last year.

For the first time, interstate horses can start in the 1200 metre feature.

Previously held in line with New Years celebrations, the race was restricted to Queensland-bred and trained horses, with only locally-based hoops riding.

The reimagined race is now open to all horses aged three and older, with trainers and jockeys from across the nation now eligible to take their place.

Entering its third iteration in 2025, the race will coincide with the Toowoomba Royal Agricultural Show holiday.

Boston Rocks will be joined by another interstate raider, It’sourtime, who was trained by Victorian Danny O’Brien before being transferred to Toowoomba’s Pat Webster for his KOTM assault.