Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
“He is definitely a player in the big races for four-year-olds later this year,” declared star reinsman Gary Hall Jnr after driving the $1.80 favourite Youre So Fine to an all-the-way victory in the $50,000 Get Well Ernie Manning Binshaw Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“He did a big job, and it was a huge effort to do what he did after he fired up when he hit the cart wheels all the way. If you had asked me half way through the race I would’ve said he would get beaten.
“He hadn’t hit the wheels before when I hadn’t used him out of the gate. I took off in the last lap and he was good enough to hold on.”
Youre So Fine, who began from the No. 2 barrier, survived an early challenge from Raven Banner when the lead time was a smart 36.3sec. After opening quarters of 30.4sec. and 30sec. Youre So Fine dashed over the next 400m in 28.2sec. and Hall drove the inexperienced New Zealand-bred gelding hard from the 400m mark to establish a clear lead of two lengths.
Youre So Fine was feeling the pinch in the home straight, and he held on to beat the fast-finishing $11 chance Alcopony by a half-neck, rating 1.56.5 over the 2130m.
This gave Youre So Fine seven wins from seven starts in his current campaign, following an injury-enforced absence of 19 months. His three starts in New Zealand produced one win and one placing, with his victory being in the Group 2 Diamond Creek Classic for two-year-olds at Invercargill in May 2021. He has raced in WA twelve times for nine wins and two placings.
Youre So Fine has developed quickly into a leading candidate for the $50,000 Four-Year-Old Championship (November 17), the $125,000 Four-Year-Old Classic (December 1) and the $200,000 Golden Nugget (December 15).