Katana In Line For Christmas Stocking

JIM Gallaway has always had a soft spot for Queensland.

The Grafton trainer once headed up a nursery of champions in his time living at Churchable, producing the likes of Flying Amy among a raft of stars.

All these years later Gallaway is still hard at it since his move south and looks to have a good one in Katana, the four-time Albion Park winner looking to build on his impressive record in Thursday night's Christmas Stocking Final (520m).

"I would have preferred him drawn inside but it looks to have worked out nicely from the seven with the speed dogs directly inside him and some of the slower beginners on the fence," Gallaway said.

"Werina Express in the six is probably the quickest out and wants the fence and should give us plenty of room to follow him across and get in front of dogs like Pump It and Coast Guard in one and two who'll be strong home.

"It could work out similar to his heat, if he's able to sit outside the leader hopefully he can find a couple of lengths late having his second 500 for a few months."

A tearaway sprinter at the start of his career, Katana is finding his feet over the longer trips.

"He's found a bit of race sense, when he was highballing out in front he could afford to run off and do a few things wrong," Gallaway said.

"Now that he's not a clear front runner every start he's learnt how to manoeuvre in a field. In his heat he was sitting outside the leader and hooked back to the fence on the home turn which I haven't seen him do before."

Gallaway had big plans for the two-year-old in 2020 but was forced to change tact quickly when the borders closed.

"COVID dealt us a cruel blow earlier in the year, he was absolutely jumping out of his skin at Maitland and Grafton over the sprints and leading for fun and we had a time table to get him to the 500 but had to send him up there to Queensland a bit early," he said.

"He still came out and won his first three races over the 500 in lower grades at Albion Park but as time dragged on he probably had a few too many runs over the trip and lost a bit of his early dash before he came home.

"You look at the positives though and what that racing has done for him is really toughen him up, just about all his wins come from that explosive early speed, but it was good to see him run over the top of a dog last week."

Gallaway always has his finger on the pulse and says he has a better read on what makes the dog tick these days.

"We've learnt you've just got to nurse him between his runs, he'll run you 500, but you've got to give him a break," he said.

"Early days he didn't look like he'd get the trip and all of a sudden he put those few races together, running around 29.90. He's always going to be competitive with those times but has probably found his ceiling as a fifth grade dog on a Thursday."

The current torrential weather hasn't made for an easy preparation for Gallaway, sticking with the edict that fresh is best.

"We've had a lot of rain down here (Grafton) and normally I'd give him a couple of light 250 metre runs up my straight track at home, but it's been flooded out this week," he said.

"I'll find somewhere to give him a light hit out before Thursday night, he may be a bit underdone, but as I said he races well fresh so maybe it's a blessing in disguise."