Sacred Don to put things right
A nose. A nostril. Whatever. The thing to remember is this.
It was by the narrowest of margins that Sacred Don lost that last race - beaten on the line by My Friends.
That day, some three weeks ago, he was backed down to second pick at $19 when beaten by a $98 roughie.
A loss is never easy to take. But to lose by an inch must have had his connections grinding their teeth in frustration.
That said, I reckon in Race 4 today Sacred Don's capable of turning the tables on My Friends and whoever else tosses in a challenge in that 1,400m contest.
This has to be it.
This has to be the day.
The stars are all aligned. Probably, the planets, too.
For once in four outings, Sacred Don has drawn a decent gate and will jump from five.
He had drawn the carpark in his first two runs and there was no reprieve at his last start. Still, his runs have been decent.
Two runner-up spots from three starts isn't something to be sniffed at.
Then again, we were all along expecting good things from his four-year-old son of Fastnet Rock.
He didn't come cheap. Indeed, as a yearling, he went under the hammer for a six-figure sum and quickly showed ability when winning a trial in November.
That day, he clocked a more than impressive 60.72sec for the 1,000m.
But it was that last-start second on Jan 18 which moved him up considerably in opinion polls.
Today, trainer Mark Walker will have him fined-tuned for his assignment. And that gallop he had on Tuesday morning would have ironed out any rough edges in that armour of his.
In short, come Race 4, Sacred Don should be as right and ready as a racehorse should be.
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