Goulburn trainer Danny Williams will take three horses down the Highway to Royal Randwick this Saturday.
If you watched last Saturday’s Highway handicap at Rosehill you would’ve thought the Danny Williams-trained Shelby Sixtysix got the victory. However, in a deceptive head-bobbing go he narrowly missed out to the Stirling Osland-prepared Golden Point.
Williams is out for redemption at Royal Randwick this Saturday when he saddles up three runners in the $100,000 contest.
Shelby Sixtysix will be on the quick seven day back-up this weekend, with Williams explaining that his form is much better than it appears.
“He’s a very unlucky horse, his last three city Highway runs have been very good albeit it may not look that way on paper,” Williams said.
“Go back the start before Saturday and he never got any clear running in the straight and Kerrin (McEvoy) said he had no doubt that if he had got clear running he would’ve won.
“Even the start before that he got absolutely skittled, how he never fell I’m not sure. He’s had no luck at all.
“We’ll put him in the paddock and do nothing with him all week and hopefully we freshen him right up for one last win in the Highway before they finish for a fair while.”
The five-year-old has done an admirable job for connections with two wins and ten placings from 20 outings and over $128,000 in earnings, but Williams is grateful he has even made it to the races.
“We were having issues with him early on in his career, before he even had his first start. The vets said that he’d be lucky to make it to the races,” Williams said.
“So he’s done a fantastic job to do what he’s doing with how we’ve been able to deal with his troubles.”
The second charger in Williams’ three-pronged attack will be the lightly-raced Brazen Impact who, whilst has posted two wins from three starts, hasn’t quite shown his full potential yet. The Real Impact three-year-old finished fourth on debut on his home surface before stringing wins together at Wagga and Moruya.
“He’s a horse that’s shown a lot more ability than what he’s produced on the track so far, albeit he’s won two of his three starts,” Williams said.
“He hasn’t quite lived up to what he’s showing at home on the track.
“He’s a horse that’s perhaps looking for a fair bit further, I think ultimately he’s going to run a mile and be much more suited over a lot further ground.”
Williams’ final representative will be Prince Nicconi, another who has put together two wins on the bounce. The Nicconi colt was given to Williams to train by bloodstock agent James Harron after Williams lost his promising galloper Hot ‘N’ Hazy in a tragic race fall in 2020, and has some well-known racing identities involved.
“He’s a horse that James Harron syndicated out with Andrew Bensley and Ray Thomas,” Williams said.
“If it’s not too wet he’ll run well. He’s a nice horse coming through.”
Looking forward to the Country Championships and Williams is trying to get his Dream Ahead gelding Ahead Start up and going ready to contest a qualifying heat. The four-year-old was last seen at the races running fourth in a Randwick Highway last October.
“We’re hoping to resurrect Ahead Start’s campaign, he’s just been plagued by hoof soreness,” Williams said.
“We finally feel like we’ve got him back on track and we’ll either run at Warwick Farm on Wednesday week or at Randwick the following Saturday.
“He’s clearly the best horse I’ve got at the moment.”
Group 1 racing returns to Royal Randwick this weekend with the features being the $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes and the $500,000 Surround Stakes.
