Sure Will Do will surely do
Stephen Gray-trained up-and-coming youngster is Sunday’s best bet
For over a month, his name has been in notebooks as a horse to follow.
It was just a matter of when he would run his next race. That has been answered.
Sure Will Do will face the starter in Race 10 on Sunday afternoon. In the morning, the faithful will queue at betting booths to back the talented galloper.
Punters know a good one when they see it. And Sure Will Do surely ticks all the boxes.
He is a horse going places. He has faced the starter four times – beginning last October – and three times he has won.
But that is only scratching the surface. Such has been the ease of those victories that, you could say, they bordered on contempt for his rivals.
Then again, he has always been box office. In introducing him to the racing public, trainer Stephen Gray sent Sure Will Do to the trials. And what an introduction it turned out to be.
Sure Will Do did what he would later do in his races. He toyed with his rivals, winning by an easy length.
It was the same ol' story at his next two trials. Except that he kept going faster.
His racing debut was a mere formality. He won by almost three lengths. Fast forward to Tuesday morning. Like all genuine contenders, Sure Will Do turned in what racegoers like to call, a winning workout.
With Vlad Duric on the reins, he ran the 600m in 39.5sec.
Others have gone faster but Sure Will Do ran out the trip like as if he knew it was in preparation for what was coming up on Sunday.
Alas, the "Duric factor" would not come into play.
Two-time champion apprentice jockey Simon Kok retains the ride on the horse, whose image he just might have on his favourite set of pyjamas – and we would not blame him.
After all, Sure Will Do has provided him with three winners.
Some will argue over morning coffee that it is a shame Duric did all the work but is not getting the ride. And that the champ seems so suited to the horse.
But the retort should be swift. Kok is no wet-behind-the-ears rookie. The Malaysian has fitted like a glove on Gray's charge, steering him to a breezy win on debut and following it up on two more occasions.
Kok and Sure Will Do have that "understanding". It is a chemistry of sorts. They are in harmony.
As for Gray, the work is done. The polish has gone on. Right now, Sure Will Do is as right as a racehorse can be.
How not to make him the day's best bet?
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