In-form Sacred Sham has sights set on Flemington

A dominant performance at Bendigo on Wednesday has trainer Danny O'Brien confident Sacred Sham can score his first city win next time out at Flemington.

After being blocked for a run early in the straight the son of O'Reilly powered home to make easy work of the BM70 heat of the Grand Handicap Series over 1000m.

"He probably should have won his last three, as he had no luck at the Valley last time out," O'Brien said.

"He is in strong form and now he gets into the $150,000 final of this Grand Handicap on his hometrack down the straight where I think he will awfully hard to beat."

The four-year-old's only race start at Flemington was back in July in the listed Crewick Stakes that saw him finish sixth beaten less than a length.

"That was a strong race and his performance was excellent, and he has stepped to another level this preparation, and I expect him to continue that on March 18 on his home track," O'Brien said.

Jockey Damien Oliver said he has some concerns with his position in the run, but was impressed by his finishing burst.

"It was a good win as the leader put a gap on us, but when he got out after him he really sprinted well and he won comfortably in the end," Oliver said.

This win was the gelding's third from 12 starts and pushed his stake earnings to almost $100,000,

Pic by Racing Photos