Sure You certainly Can

After a tough week trainer Danny O’Brien had something to smile about when Sure You Can claimed Saturday’s $80,000 Dover Handicap (2000m) at Flemington.

James Winks, who partnered Sure You Can, said the victory was a credit to O’Brien’s Barwon Heads training facility.

“She was trained out of Flemington last preparation and it didn’t agree with her and she sort of dropped away after a couple of runs but she’s been down at Barwon Heads now and (the transformation) is a real feather in Danny’s cap,” Winks said.

“I was down there the other day and it’s a magnificent property and for mare’s like this it works really well.”

Settling at the rear of the field early, once Winks was able to angle Sure You Can ($13) into the clear at the top of the straight she let down with an impressive finish to score a half-length win over Special Miss ($9.50), with Spanish Love ($2.50F) a further half-head away in third.

Winks said he wasn’t sure if the daughter of O’Reilly would appreciate racing beyond 2000 metres.

“She dashed and then held her gallop to the line so while you’re winning I wouldn’t stretch her out over too much further,” he said.

“She got into a really good rhythm and I got onto the back of Nick Hall (Native Land) and he was able to take me far enough into the race and as soon as I got her to the outside she showed a really good turn of foot.”

Story by Ben Asgari, to view full Racing.com story click here 

Photo by Bruno Cannatelli, to view Bruno's website click here