Perfect 12! Pollard In Awe Of Mark Sure Can

WHEN owner Jason Phillips first asked Emerald trainer Christine Pollard to train a young dog called Mark Sure Can, Christine's husband David said there was no room in the kennel for him.

“Almost” a big mistake.

On Wednesday night, Mark Sure Can led throughout to win a 407m Best 8 at Rockhampton by almost six lengths in 23.07 just a “tick” outside the track record.

But, the remarkable aspect of the win is that it was the 12th win in a row for Mark Sure Can (Slick-Sure You Can) … those 12 wins keeping him unbeaten for the Pollard kennel.

“It's pretty incredible to think he is 100 percent in 12 starts for us,” said Christine.

But, Christine and David Pollard know only too well Bruiser, his kennel name, is a unique dog.

“He's a serious, serious chaser,” said Christine.

“In fact, in all my career training dogs, none have been better.

“But, he is a dog who is an individual and I purposely keep him away from anything that might get him excited or stirred up.

“Even to the stage where he is never put into a paddock to free gallop with the other dogs from the kennel. He is never allowed to even watch something like that.”

Christine admits the pressure to keep his record intact is on well and truly.

Immediate plans are to keep him at the sprint until closer to the end of the year when he will step up to the 500m for the Christmas Cup series at Rockhampton.

“His best attribute is he runs the same very fast first section every single week,” said Christine of the dog.

The Pollard kennel at Emerald is a seven-hour round trip to race at Rockhampton and the temperature rose to almost 40 degrees during the trip to the track yesterday.

“He's got a testicle in his groin and has a track leg,” said Christine of her latest kennel star.

“But, we manage everything about him.

“One of our rivals came to us after the race on Wednesday and said ‘he's exceptional'.”

He is by John McCarthy's former G1 star Slick (25 wins, $216,000) from the multiple Albion Park winner Sure You Can the winner of 14 races.