Scream Park wins final tune-up ahead of Karaka Million Classic

Back-to-back wins have not yet given Chris Waller an accurate gauge on Scream Park’s capabilities as he targets a $1 million race in New Zealand.

The New Zealand-bred three-year-old colt won his second successive race at Warwick Farm when claiming the Boxing Day at Royal Randwick Handicap (1600m) by 2-3/4 lengths but Sydney’s premier trainer said it was still difficult to determine how he measured up.

“His maiden win was on a wet track and he drifted out wide, today he struck a three-horse field,” Waller said.

“We do think he’s got a lot of ability, it’s just hard to measure against a small field and wet tracks.”

Scream Park, the $1.40 favourite, still resisted the challenge of Colesberg ($5.50) and Choice Harvest ($4.60) in encouraging fashion.

“He had to sustain quite a long sprint, it was really good to see he had a high cruising speed, then he drew away it the last bit,” Waller said.

He hoped for a larger field when Scream Park has his final tune-up for the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m) in Auckland at Warwick Farm.

Waller picked out the January 6 meeting hours before today’s race morning as a final audition for an assignment at Ellerslie three weeks later.

“We had a quick look this morning, which is always a good sign before a race, confidence from the trainer,” he said.

 

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!