KEY POINTS:
Three weeks ago, Michelle Wallis decided to find out just what stable newcomer Marika was capable of achieving. The answer still has her smiling.
The former age-group star will make his debut for trainer Wallis at Alexandra Park tonight and will be a warm favourite for the feature race, even from his 20m handicap.
And while Wallis knows few horses win fresh-up off such a handicap at Alexandra Park, she believes Marika is good enough to be an exception to the rule.
"He is a smart horse with great speed," she said.
She got her first hands-on indication of that three weeks ago when she gave Marika a serious workout on the beach. "We sent him over a good 2400m and, when we asked him to go at the end, he swished his last 400m in 26.5sec.
"Not many of them go that fast down the beach."
Marika has since won at the workouts and being beach trained should have the fitness to live up to the big reputation he has carried his entire career.
He looked an open class horse right from his freshman season when he won the New Zealand Juvenile Championship, beating subsequent dual Derby winner Badlands Bute.
He was a close second to Tribute in the Sires' Stakes Final at three but then ran into a series of problems for former trainer Laurence Hanrahan.
While speed was never an issue, he sometimes lacked the strength to see out hard-run races and was also cursed by constantly being well-supported.
That made it hard for driver Ricky May to drive him for one sprint and also made the punting public hard judges of his performances.
Tonight, he will have a new driver in Tony Herlihy, fresh from a North American trip, and Wallis draws confidence from the fact even though he is off a tricky mark it is not a top field.
"He looks a little bit better than most of these so he will be hard to beat," she says.
Marika does meet some smart types in Diamond Dan, The Adman, Ready For Battle and Pulsation, but all have queries over them tonight.
Diamond Dan faces a 30m handicap, The Adman and Ready For Battle have not raced for a while and Pulsation is up in grade after winning last Friday.
So with Wallis' stable having started the season in form expect to see Marika open short in the fixed odds markets and stay that way.
He will be many punters' anchor too in the $100,000 Pick6 at tonight's meeting, which has only nine races but the later-than-usual start time of 6.47pm.
