Trainer Danny Williams doesn’t travel to Melbourne often but when he does he is rarely far from the money.
Based at Goulburn in NSW, Williams sent two of his horses on an eight-hour trip to Melbourne on Wednesday with the pair to line up at Flemington on the weekend.
With a lack of suitable races in Sydney and the provincial areas of NSW, Williams plans to start travelling over the border more regularly.
He will saddle Bag Of Nickels in Saturday’s Skipton Handicap (2000m) and Shout To The Top in the Fiesta Star Handicap (1200m).
The last time he visited Victoria Williams produced Shout To The Top to win at Wangaratta in September, not long after his return to the training ranks.
After working his own string for more than 15 years, Williams spent time as Tony McEvoy’s Sydney foreman before returning to Goulburn for family reasons in late August and he now has 20 horses in work.
“It’s my goal to start to travel,” Williams said.
“These looked a couple of ideal races for both horses as they’re up in the weights and difficult to place.”
Williams has enjoyed success at Flemington in the past and won a sprint race with Deceiver during a hit-and-run raid in January 2013.
He said Shout To The Top had shown a lot of ability but had disappointed at his past two starts in Sydney.
“He went left-handed at Wangaratta where he travelled well and won impressively but disappointed since,” Williams said.
“He’s an ideal 1400-metre horse and in my opinion you need that type of horse for 1200 metres down the straight at Flemington.”
Bag Of Nickels has only had three starts since joining Williams registering a win and two second placings.
“She’s absolutely flying at the moment and crying out for the 2000 metres,” he said.
