Who Dares has finally learned what winning is about and is aiming for the hat-trick at Flemington on Saturday.
Racing and more of it has finally worked in the favour of Who Dares.
The Pat Carey and Harris Walker-trained sprinter will be searching for a third straight win when he lines up in the Country Achiever Shane Fliedner (1100m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Who Dares was successful in the VOBIS Gold Sprint (1200m) at Caulfield in April and at his most recent outing in the Listed Straight Six (1200m) at Flemington on May 18.
The four-year-old, who has four wins, and eight runner-up finishes from his 21 starts, jumps from 54kg to 58-½kg on Saturday and is coming back 100m in journey.
But Carey is not concerned by those factors, happy in the view that Who Dares has a good record on the straight course.
“He’s come up fantastic this prep. He’s won two and we’ve targeted the Santa Ana Lane Series with him,” Carey said.
“He had two fairly hard runs in a row, so we’ve spaced him to draw him out for the series.
“He’s in good order, he’s freshened up nicely, he’s drawn in the middle. He looks like he enjoys straight racing and he’s racing on Saturday at the level that he’s pretty much competing against.”
Carey said Who Dares was finally being rewarded for the form he showed as a three-year-old, including a number of placing down the straight at Flemington where the Listed Santa Ana Lane Sprint Final (1200m) will be run on July 6.
“If you look back 12 months ago, he was highly competitive in a strong three-year-old year in these types of races,” Carey said.
“He ran quite a few seconds, but every horse, they were well credentialled horses that had good ability and were Stakes class types.
“He was running well, without winning, but he remains off season at the moment.
“The form is strong this time in, and his own personal form is strong also, so we’ll keep punching away and be guided by how he keeps handling the rise in class.”