Waller keen to make a benchmark Statement
CHRIS Waller is certain the Golden Rose can bring out the best in Press Statement, clearing the way for the colt to become a benchmark three-yearold of Australian racing.
Press Statement is the only Group 1 winner in the $1 million race at Rosehill today and Waller is counting on his class edge to complement a preference for firm ground and 1400m.
“Fourteen hundred metres on a good track will suit him, it will be able to have him near his peak and then it’s a matter of finding out if that peak is good enough,” Waller said.
Waller likens Press Statement to Zoustar and Brazen Beau, two colts with sprinting pedigrees who he moulded into marketable stallion prospects at a comparative stage of their careers.
Zoustar won the 2013 Golden Rose and Waller has given Press Statement an identical campaign after the colt’s win in the Group 1 J.J. Atkins (1600m) at Doomben during the Brisbane winter carnival.
But Waller insists until Press Statement can match the overall records of Zoustar and Brazen Beau, he is only halfway to becoming the racehorse he thinks he can be.
“They went on and did it. This horse is still got to do it,” Waller said. “The job’s half done. “He’s earned some respect as having the potential to be a top horse.
“And now in the next three or four months he could be one of the best of the year.”
The Golden Rose was reduced to a field of eight yesterday when the Peter Moodytrained Gold Symphony was found to have an elevated temperature.