Gary Mallinson has just four horses in work but they’re workhorses, the lot of them.
The quartet have claimed seven wins from 15 starts since the middle of November, at the picnics and professional gallops, with Maldonado leading the way.
The five-year-old gelding landed in Mallinson’s lap mid-2016 after expending Robbie Laing’s patience with one win from 15 starts.
Since saluting at Healesville in November, the son of Pentire has been on a tear, winning his last three starts at the picnics, including the weekend’s feature, the Sutton Grange Winery Healesville Cup (1650m).
Maldonado had the benefit of an in-form Ray Douglas in the saddle on Saturday, and his well judged ride secured the cup by a head from the unfortunately named Tip Rat.
Douglas has the best strike rate on the picnic circuit this season, returning a winner 36.4 per cent of the time.
The other notable winner at Healesville was in the cup’s curtain-raiser, as Graham Salisbury of Subzero fame saddled up Norsika for her first picnic start.
It proved a shrewd move, as Reece Goodwin steered the mare to a comfortable win, securing himself a double for the day in the process.
Pace ups the tempo
It was a double-header weekend at the picnics, with Balnarring racing on Sunday.
The meeting was a test run for the club as it gears up for its cup day on Australia Day next Thursday.
Ray Douglas was at it again in race one, scoring by a whopping 10 lengths on Waddawesing for Chris Diplock.
Mark Webb was the trainer of the day, collecting a running double in races three and four with Runs to Rule and Goody Gumdrops.
Courtney Pace, meanwhile, kept up her dominance of the riding ranks.
Pace won the final three races of the day to extend her lead at the top of the premiership table to nine wins.
Her final win of the day was on Lubricate, which moved the Kelvin Southey-trained gelding into a three-way tie for most wins this season.
Lubricate has four wins from eight starts, matching La Rita and Maldonado, each with four from five.
The picnic circuit heads to Woolamai this Saturday before the big Australia Day meeting at Balnarring.