The race may not carry stakes status or have the prize money attached to make it one of the prestigious races on the Australian calendar, but Craig Williams was fighting back the tears following the win of Lackeen at The Valley.
The Godolphin-owned galloper took out the Travis Harrison Cup (1600m) on Saturday to give Williams his second win in the race named in honour of his cousin.
Harrison was killed in a car accident following birthday celebrations which were held after a race meeting at Moonee Valley in 1996.
A large contingent of the Harrison family were at Moonee Valley on Saturday, including his former jockey father Kevin and still training uncle, Doug, to watch and cheer loudly as Williams brought Lackeen home a comfortable winner.
It was Williams’ second win in his late cousin’s race after Magic Consol took honours in 2018 before going on to claim the Group 2 Feehan Stakes later that spring.
Riding the speed throughout, Williams took Lackeen ($6.50) to the front before the turn and held off the $2.40 favourite Chief Altony to score by 2-¼ lengths with Biometric ($26) a half-length away third.
“I was lucky,” Williams said.
“I had Travis by my side, and I had all my family on course today.
“I have to thank James Cummings for giving me the opportunity to make this such an amazing win for a lot of people.
“I feel really privileged to be in the thoroughbred racing industry, especially here in Victoria, and you can see now that Travis has been gone for 26 years and the Moonee Valley Racing Club still honour Travis Harrison and the Harrison family.
“The last four months, my wife and I have been involved in our project and the support from everyone has been so fantastic.”
