Cranbourne trainer Doug Harrison has started the year well with eight winners in January and is hoping to keep the ball rolling with the in-form Skitter at Sandown on Wednesday.
Skitter is going for her fourth straight win when she comes to town for the first time for the Patinack Farm Hcp (1200m) following victories at Stony Creek, Cranbourne and Geelong last month.
“This is what we should be doing. It’s taken a while but I’ve just got the horses up and running now,” Harrison said.
“You need to have them coming through and it’s been really good.
“They’ve just been going around the bush mainly. I’m getting a nice little team together.”
Harrison has engaged in-form apprentice Katelyn Mallyon for her first race ride aboard Skitter who likes to lead and has drawn well in barrier one in the 11-horse field.
Mallyon’s three-kilogram metropolitan allowance brings the mare in with 55.5kg, 1.5kg above the limit weight.
Skitter, a four-year-old by Stravinsky out of the Marscay mare Almaz, is from the same family as WATC Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Sanhedrin’s Pride, Ipswich Eye Liner Stakes winner Rancho Miss and SAJC Liz Davenport Classic winner Calming.
She has had eight starts, all for Harrison, and finished fourth four times and fifth once from her first five starts before hitting a purple patch of form.
“She came over from New Zealand to me. Her breeders sent her over to me to try and win a race here with her,” Harrison said.
“She showed ability. Her head carriage was everywhere and we just had to work on her a bit but she can really gallop.”
Harrison has been experimenting with a few gear changes on Skitter, who races in an off-side blinker, and has added pacifiers for the first time on Wednesday.
Skitter has led at her last six starts but it wasn’t until her sixth start that she broke through in a Stony Creek Maiden (1100m) on a slow track on January 9.
She followed that up with a three-length win in a Cranbourne Class 1 (1200m) on January 22 and backed up three days later to win a Showcase Fillies and Mares 0-68 Hcp (1400m) at Geelong.
The Harrison stable has saddled up three runners so far this month and all have finished runner-up – It’s Crunch Time at Sandown last Wednesday, Neptune Express at Morphettville last Saturday and Cosentino at Sale on Sunday.
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