The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Storm Boy will derive a lot of benefit from his victory at Eagle Farm in his bid for success at the Gold Coast.
Storm Boy took out the Group 3 B J McLachlan Stakes (1200m) on Saturday to cement his place in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast on January 13.
Sent off the $1.45 favourite with betting sites under Adam Hyeronimus, Storm Boy overcame a poor start and was then forced to cover ground before racing to a 2-½ length win from Poster Girl ($8.50) with Customized ($9) a half-length away third.
Bott was at Eagle Farm on Saturday to watch Storm Boy score and said the colt looked awkward out of the barriers.
“We were on the back foot there early,” Bott told Sky Racing.
“You can never take anything for granted in small fields with a short-priced favourite, and you have to respect the locals on their home turf.
“It’s never easy coming up here, but I’m glad he was able to overcome some difficulties, and he was strong late.
“There is still plenty of improvement to come.”
Bott said Storm Boy will strip fitter when he heads to the Gold Coast in three weeks’ time as the stable had been easy on the two-year-old.
Storm Boy was successful on debut at Rosehill on December 2 and then had to travel from Sydney to Brisbane.
“We were a little easy on him going into this race and I would like to think today will top him off nicely,” Bott said.
“He’ll learn a bit more. He was still a bit new and once he puts it altogether, we’re going to see a very lovely and top-class horse.”
Storm Boy joined impressive Sydney winner, stablemate Straight Charge, at the head of the betting for the Magic Millions.
Straight Charge was returning from a break to claim the Drinkwise Plate (1100m) at Randwick on Saturday.
“It’s difficult to draw comparisons between the pair,” Bott said.
“We’ll be able to find that out in three weeks.”