The decision to race recent stable acquisition Skulduggery on a quick back-up at Caulfield has paid off for trainer Shawn Mathrick with the gelding coming from last to win.

Mathrick bought Skulduggery last month for $25,000 at the Inglis December Thoroughbred Sale and the gelding has won twice and finished second in three starts for his new trainer.

Skulduggery was backing up in Saturday's Ian Morrison Handicap (1700m) after finishing second at Sandown on Wednesday and he was well-supported to start at $5.50.

After settling at the tail of the field in the benchmark-70 race, Skulduggery finished off down the outside to win by 1-1/2 lengths over Royal Applause with the same margin to On Wings third.

"The query was the back-up. It's 37 degrees," Mathrick said.

"I took him home (from Sandown) and he drank plenty and he ate everything and was bucking his brands off. I thought we might as well have a crack at the stumps."

Mathrick said he couldn't fault the gelding going into Saturday.

"The horse is absolutely flying," he said.