Top duo pick up where they left off

IT was business as usual at the first Gold Coast meeting of the new season when leading apprentice Tegan Harrison and top trainer Helen Page combined to win with Witches Lips this afternoon.
Page and Harrison had standout seasons in the just-completed 2011-12 racing year. Harrison became the first female rider to win the Gold Coast apprentices’ premiership and Page landed her first trainers’ title. Page edged out John Morrisey to become only the second woman after Gillian Heinrich to take out the Gold Coast premiership.
Witches Lips ($12) was having her first start for Page today when she resumed to win the Gold World Bundall F&M Class 1 Hcp (1200m).
Harrison had Witches Lips at the tail of the field as the field approached the home and the race appeared to be at the mercy of topweight In The Back Row when she swept to clear lead at the 200m.
But Harrison took the shortest way home along the rails and grabbed the tiring In The Back Row ($4) right on the line to win by a nose. Misty Warrior ($10) was 1-1/2 lengths away in third.
A lightly-raced four-year-old daughter of Sequalo, Witches Lips has now won two of her six starts.
Harrison backed up in the next race late to seal a double aboard odds-on favourite Balkuin in the Carlton Draught C,G&E Class 1 Hcp (1200m). A last-start Doomben Maiden winner, the Bruce Hill-trained  Balkuin ($1.75 fav) handled the next step with authority and scored by three-quarters of a length.
Story: Neil Archer
Photo: Trackside Photography Pty Ltd