Tony Pike and Mark Donoghue upped the ante for their defence of the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas when Sacred Park (NZ) won the G3 Bonecrusher Stakes at Ellerslie.

The Cambridge trainers won the classic with O’Reilly galloper Sacred Falls (NZ) last year and their latest candidate put up a smart performance to score by three-quarters of a length on Saturday.

“It was a great ride by Leith (Innes) and he gave him a lovely run in the one-one,” Pike said.  “We’ve had a great run with the Raffles Syndicate and, while this horse isn’t as brilliant or professional as Sacred Falls, he’s a nice, progressive horse.

“The 2000 Guineas is the aim but eventually he will go over ground and is potentially a NZ Derby horse.  We will have a good look at the best lead-up to the Guineas for him.”

Sacred Park (3c Thorn Park – Dosh by Danske) won his only start as a two-year-old in May and then resumed with a third placing earlier this month at Taupo.  “He really struggled around Taupo, getting on the wrong leg and becoming unbalanced, and peaked on his run 50 metres out,” Pike explained.  “He was always going to improve.”

Sacred Park lobbed into a handy spot before Innes peeled out to challenge at the top of the straight.  They were in front soon after and the colt was strong to the wire.  “He’s a nice-looking type and he switched off when he hit the front,” Innes said.  “Once you see the better tracks you will see a better horse as well.”

Bred by Harvey Digby Bloodstock, Sacred Park is by Windsor Park’s deceased champion sire Thorn Park and was a $110,000 buy from Mapperley Stud at the 2012 NZB Select yearling sale.

His dam Dosh is an unraced sister to G3 Lowland Stakes winner Amolta (Danske).  The mare has a 2yo filly by Thorn Park and a yearling colt by Guillotine.