Harrison locked in for bumper three days of racing
King Cornelius. Image: Racing Photography.
Melissa Harrison is set for one of her biggest weeks of the season, with up to 11 runners across three meetings on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
With a big team in work and horses at different stages of their preparations, there’s plenty of excitement as Harrison prepares for the Cowra meeting on Saturday — and the stable’s apprentice is right in the thick of it.
Stable apprentice Jess Del Frari is chasing her first winner since returning to race riding and gets three chances to break through at Cowra.
The 1.5kg claimer jumps aboard Chebet (gate 9) in the 1200m Maiden Plate, Azucar (gate 9) in the 950m Maiden Handicap and Pattera (gate 6) in the 1100m Benchmark 50 Handicap.
Pattera looks the stable’s best chance at Cowra and could be the horse to get Del Frari back in the winners’ circle. The five-year-old Zoustar gelding is a recent winner at Wagga in the same grade, is going into the race in good order and is better suited to a soft surface than the heavy track he encountered last start at Dubbo.
It’s the Harrison and Del Frari show again at Narrandera on Sunday, with the pair combining for two nice chances.
Spunky Reward (gate 11) has drawn awkwardly in the 1400m Maiden Handicap, while Kelilah (gate 5) looks well placed in the 1400m Benchmark 58 Handicap for the fillies and mares.
If the same Kelilah that won in the same grade at Dubbo two starts back turns up at Narrandera, the five-year-old Territories mare will take a lot of beating.
The Forbes stable is then in for a big day at Dubbo on Monday, with six chances going around.
Del Frari has four rides for the stable, jumping aboard King Cornelius (gate 2) in the 2200m Benchmark 58 Handicap, Bloomin’ Hell (gate 8) in the 1300m Maiden Handicap, Glowing Rapids (gate 10) in the 1100m Benchmark 58 Handicap and Strassman (gate 3) in the 1400m Benchmark 58 Handicap.
Jasmine Urquhart-Warren will also ride for the team, jumping aboard Street Parade (gate 1) in the 1100m Benchmark 58 Handicap, and Clayton Gallagher will ride Invasive (gate 5) in the same race that Glowing Rapids will contest.
The stable has a host of good chances on the day, but Bloomin’ Hell looks Harrison’s best winning chance. The four-year-old Hellbent mare ran an impressive second over 1100m at Narromine last month, has been trained on since that run and looks primed to go one better at Dubbo.
It shapes as a massive three days for the Forbes stable, and if the winners come, it could be a significant turning point in what has already been a promising season for Harrison and her team — with Del Frari’s return to the winners’ circle a storyline many will be following closely.
Words: Jeff Hanson