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RACING HISTORY

 

YEAR: 2009

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

2009 HELLER'S SMALLGOODS DOMINION

Phil Williamson left his stable star at home on Cup Day, knowing full well that there was an even bigger cherry to bite into three days later. In the end the decision proved a masterstroke, and Springbank Richard won last Friday's $250,000 Group 1 Heller's Smallgoods Dominion at Addington with an emphatic performance.

It must have been a pretty hard call to bypass the NZ Trotting Free-For-All on Tuesday, especially when you train the best trotter in commission at the moment and he is at the top of his game. But Williamson had a plan and he stuck to his guns, casting aside the lure of a $56,000 cheque in preference for one worth nearly three times as much - not to mention the kudos that went with it.

"I felt it was like having a test match before a test," the Oamaru horseman said, justifying his reasoning. "If I started him in the Free-For-All, it was just going to come down to how he would recover in the two days afterwards. And I don't think he would have. He still might have been able to do the two, but the risk was there. I knew that I could do the work with the horse leading into the race, hopefully having him as good as I could get him on the day."

More prevalent in the back of Williamson's mind was the fact that his family had never tasted success in the 'NZ Cup of Trotting' - which is remarkable in itself, because over the years 'Team Williamson' have won almost every major square-gaiter's race that there is on the calendar. But not the Dominion, and that made him even more focussed. "It's a very difficult race to win," he says. "We have been placed in it that many times, and you only get one chance a year - that made me even more determined to try and win it this season. I don't know how Tim (Butt) has managed to do it so many times. I even joked with him before the race today, saying we were halfway there because he wasn't in it. But no it was something that we hadn't achieved, and now that we are on that list I can go to my grave happy," he said with a smile.

Of all the major trotting events up for grabs each season, the Dominion really stands head and shoulders above the rest because it's list of past winners is like a veritable 'who's who' of the sport in this country's history. In the last dozen or so seasons alone you can reel of the likes of Merinai, Cedar Fella, Lyell Creek(three times),Take A Moment(three times), Martina H, Pompallier, Whatsundermykilt, Mountbatten and most recently Stig - and now Springbank Richard has nestled himself amongst the greats.

It was some effort too, because after being four-wide for a big part of the early running the son of Sundon pushed forward to be parked and later took the lead, exertion which should have meant he was a sitting duck for a horse such as Sovereignty that was enjoying a cosy run on his back. The two favourites engaged in a ding-dong battle up the home straight, and Springbank Richard's margin of half a head on the line probably didn't do the stayer's effort justice.

"When we were wide around the first bend, he was wanting to rip and tear even then," said driver Nathan Williamson afterwards. "I was happy to sit there - he wasn't and that was the only thing I was really worried about, him getting too keen and over-racing. One of his earplugs came out at about the six hundred metre mark, and when I pulled the other one on the home bend he still had a kick."

Williamson Snr says the plan for Springbank Richard from here is a couple of trips across the Tasman. "We may go to Australia now for the Trotting Grand Prix (December 4) and the Bill Collins Mile a week later, then come home and go back across in January for the Inter-Dominions," Phil said. "That is if I can get the right flights. He doesn't mind travelling, it is just that he frets for home when he is away and loses a lot of weight on a trip."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 18Nov09



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