Lloyd Williams (Image: Racing Photos)
Lloyd Williams quest for an eighth Melbourne Cup later this year gained momentum on Friday with two leading contenders on an incoming flight to Australia while Master of Reality won a stakes race in Northern Ireland.
Melbourne Cup candidates Pondus and Dawn Patrol are among nine Williams-owned horses currently en route to Melbourne after flying out of England on Friday.
The horses will complete their mandatory 14 days of post-export quarantine at Mickleham before being prepared by Robert Hickmott from Macedon Lodge, the facility where Hickmott trained Green Moon and Almandin to Melbourne Cup success in 2012 and 2016.
Irish import set to make Australian debut
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WE NEED RIVALRIES, TRIBALISATION AND PLAYERS TO SPEAK THEIR MINDS
Rugby League’s showpiece and biggest success in the sport’s history is the State of Origin that is built on a battleground mentality of ‘mate against mate’ and ‘state versus state’.
AFL, NRL, football (soccer) and The Ashes are all built on the passion for one’s team or nation against the other who supporters have some hatred for.
It drives competition and instils passion into the sport.
Racing needs more Joe Pride’s, a man who speaks his mind and isn’t afraid to stir the pot all in the name of sparking interest in the sport.
Lloyd Williams eyes Macedon nursery for Melbourne Cup imports
Lloyd Williams eyes Macedon nursery for Melbourne Cup imports by Gilbert Gardiner Record Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams with Kerrin McEvoy Image: Getty
Melbourne Cup record-holder Lloyd Williams could use Macedon Lodge as a nursery for young European stayers, amid the uncertain future of spring internationals.
Williams, like most purveyors of northern hemisphere stayers, has resisted setting plans in stone for the release of Racing Victoria’s reformatory review into the death rate of international Cup horses.
Recommendations will include enhanced screening of imports, prior to departure and upon arrival, and potentially a restriction or cap on racing in Australia prior to the Cup.
6:07PM, FEB 27 2021
The United States, a Group 1-winning brother to the high-class fillies Hermosa and Hydrangea, got his stud career off to the dream start on Saturday when Drakenstein Stud s two-year-old homebred filly Sheela made a winning debut in the Listed Storm Bird Stakes at Vaal in South Africa.
The filly is out of Trip To India, a Listed-placed daughter of leading South African sire Trippi hailing from the family of European Group 1 winners such as Continent, who struck in the July Cup and Prix de l Abbaye, and Grand Prix de Paris scorer Zambezi Sun.
The globe-trotting son of Galileo began his racing career with Aidan O Brien and the Coolmore partners, for whom he won the Group 3 KPMG Enterprise Stakes. At four he transferred to the Australian stable of Robert Hickmott to race for Melbourne Cup-winning owners Nick and Lloyd Williams.
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