It was with great excitement that we all witnessed a young Denman filly who had a shaky start to life salute at just her second start this week. Trained by Goulburn trainer Danny Williams, the 2 year old filly known as She Knows romped in by two lengths over 1000m at her home track last Sunday. This little girl is definitely a fighter and to see her make it to the track and fly so quickly into the winners circle goes to show just how much determination she has.

In 2014 the Commands mare Wintour delivered her third foal by the then third season sire Denman. After what was a normal pregnancy and birth, the filly looked right on track to develop into a well conformed racing or sale proposition for owner Eric Lucas.

The filly's normal birth and uneventful life was to be turned upside down when the devastating Hunter Valley floods of 2015 hit Torryburn. When the flood waters rose, the diligent and fast thinking staff moved all the horses to high ground. However, the magnitude of water that hit the farm was proven to be grossly underestimated and the then six month old filly was found huddled in the corner of one paddock with three other weanlings and their nanny mare.

Out of approximately 250 horses on the farm at the time, this group of babies and their nanny were the only ones to become stranded and were rescued just in the nick of time by the farm staff. This involved wading through some of the fast moving flood waters - a remarkable feat and extraordinary effort by both horses and staff.

As this part of the farm became cut off from the main farm, the staff erected a temporary hospital in a hay shed to treat the minor lacerations that this small group received during their rescue and waited for the flood waters to recede. They were then moved to the main farm hospital and their treatments continued until all regained their health and remarkably no long term issues or injuries were sustained - a credit to the constitution of the animals and staff alike.

It's a fantastic outcome for Eric and we can't wait to follow the progress of She Knows. Wintour has an outstanding filly by Sizzling here at Torryburn and we are looking forward to seeing her expectant Real Impact (JPN) foal this season.