The Art of Not Getting Boxed In (A Williams Masterclass)

Tactically superb and barrier brilliant, Craig Williams will be tested at Saturday’s historically significant Oakleigh Plate meeting at Caulfield.

The Oakleigh Plate, the 1100 metre Group one sprint, goes back to 1884 and is now supported by other majors, the Futurity and if youngsters are your taste, the $2 million Blue Diamond, prizemoney rich but character poor.

Williams has a strong hand in them, particularly the Futurity where he comes from the 11 gate on Mr Brightside, one of Australia’s best, and Tempted (12) in the Blue Diamond.

Barriers play a greater role than ever, probably because of surveillance cameras and jockeys often dumbed down by riding instructions.

Mr Brightside was beaten from an eight launch last start in the Orr, also weight-for-age, and gave the gelding every chance: downed on the day by a better horse, Another Wil. On paper Mr Brightside has a considerable edge on rivals in the Futurity but being a hot favourite, the opposition will be out to pressure him during the 1400 metres which is where the expertise of Williams comes into play.

Williams faces a more demanding task on Tempted, out to signify the quality claims on Sydney two-year-olds against the locals. Second last start at Rosehill, Tempted was “restrained to last” from the nine commence prompting the opinion from an inside gate she would have scored.  

So far, to my eye, it has been a very common Sydney two-year-old season. Yes, youngsters can sprout quickly. Wodeton, a quality colt, and the filly, Bel Merci, have looked promising at their only starts which will be confirmed or negated in the Silver Slipper at Rosehill Gardens. Alas Wodeton, the short-priced favourite, begins from 10 under Kerrin McEvoy, in a hot seat following criticisms for Randwick defeats last Saturday on two strong fancies. Beware, too, of sharp improvement from Gambler, deposed of being a colt but being gelded gained speed and purpose.

However Bel Merci, the Gimcrack winner, has pace aplenty but can be risky at the gates. With a clean break she will go fast and flew the lids in a recent Kembla Grange barrier trial.

With Tempted, Bel Merci, by Blue Diamond winner Extreme Choice, will be out to further the argument of just how strong fillies and mares have become.

“Last Saturday, with mares dominating the Lightning and Apollo, again proves the equine genders are equal. If females weren’t as fast and strong as the males, predators would have eaten them and horses would have died out. Prove that racing isn’t definitely clinging to “equine misogyny” by getting rid of the two-kilo allowance and female only races,” – John Tutty Bendigo opined in a letter to Winning Post.

Will this come into play with Broadsiding and Aeliana in the Hobartville at Rosehill. Broadsiding, a Two Darm Hot colt, was third, albeit distant, in the Cox Plate, Australia’s best race, while the considerable quality of Aeliana, a filly under Chris Waller’s development program, is untapped. Waller didn’t allow her to show much in a barrier trial but Broadsiding could not be contained in his latest heat. Male dominance for mine here.

Which was certainly the situation 50 years back, sending me into nostalgia. The Oakleigh Plate was taken by Zephyr Bay, a magnificent stallion ridden by Roy Higgins, in record time. There has been no sprinter of his stature engaged in more recent chapters.

Higgins, too, won the Blue Diamond on Lord Dudley in 1975 as well as the first in 1971 on Tolerance, not a filly in sight.

However, on Oakleigh Plate day the weight-for-age event, the St George Stakes, was another Higgins triumph, winning on Leilani.

“Leilani is a real out-and-out champion maybe she has a slight edge on Light Fingers,” Higgins claimed.

Neither were as good as Winx. None of our current saddle greats were better than Higgins. Wide barriers were no problem. Hopefully in another half century reflections of Williams and James McDonald by some tabloid hack will give the same satisfaction.