A campaign that hasn’t gone to plan could produce a happy sidebar when Williamsburg gets his favoured wet track conditions in the $500,000 The Coast at the transferred Gosford meeting.
A heavy 10 track rating, combined with a forecast for further rain, prompted Racing NSW officials to make the decision on Thursday to move the stand-alone Saturday program from the Central Coast track to Newcastle, which was still in the soft range.
The venue shift shouldn’t trouble Williamsburg, who claimed his maiden at Newcastle and finished fifth in the Newcastle Stakes at his only other start at the circuit.
Significantly, the four-year-old is a three-time stakes winner on heavy ground and given it has been over a year since Williamsburg last struck a significantly rain-affected track, co-trainer Gerald Ryan is warming to his charge’s chances.
“Williamsburg hasn’t been near a properly soft track in ages,” Ryan said.
“The last time he ran on one, he finished second in the Festival Stakes.
“The horse is going quite well at home, and he is nicely weighted.”
Group 1 placed in the 2022 Champagne Stakes on heavy ground, Williamsburg arrives at The Coast (1600m) at his fourth campaign run and off the back of a stop-start preparation.
He failed to make the field for a couple of his scheduled races and had almost a month between outings following his unplaced effort in the Doncaster Prelude (1600m) on March 30.
A hit-and-run trip to Brisbane followed where he finished sixth in Listed grade, and Ryan says he is only now satisfied with the horse’s fitness levels.
“Williamsburg missed a few runs here and there when he didn’t make the field for races, so he might have been a little bit behind in his fitness,” he said.
“I am happy with where his fitness is at now and if he runs to his best, he can run really well.”
Stablemate Grebeni is also an acceptor for The Coast and has been placed at his only start on a heavy track.
Ryan was in two-minds about running the backmarker at Gosford, but the meeting’s shift to the roomier Newcastle track is likely to tempt him to start the seven-time winner.
If Grebeni doesn’t go around, connections will wait for the Scone Cup (1600m) six days later.
