Craig Williams is mobbed by connections of Queen’s Cup winner Moudre at Flemington on Saturday.
By Paul Pickering
WITH a dominant Flemington carnival behind him, Cranbourne-raised jockey Craig Williams could have been excused for having the day off on Sunday.
Instead, the four-time Scobie Breasley medallist celebrated by riding a winner for his brother, Damien, at Cranbourne.
Paper Prince’s victory in the 1200m sixth race – boasting a prize purse of just $15,000 – was a far cry from the Group 1 glamour of Flemington, but it did put an exclamation point on a career week for Williams.
The freckle-faced hoop was the undisputed king of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, finishing with seven wins, four seconds and a third across the four-day festival of racing.
Those wins included a second $1m Group 1 Crown Oaks – following Miss Finland’s win in 2006 – on star filly Brazilian Pulse and Saturday’s Group 3 Queen’s Cup aboard Ciaron Maher’s ultra-consistent Moudre.
Williams rode a winning double on Derby Day and piloted the victor in the first three races on Cup Day, before seizing centre stage with Brazilian Pulse – in just her sixth start – in Thursday’s feature.
“I’ve had a really good carnival, but to take out one of the major Group 1s in the Crown Oaks is a huge thrill,” he said afterwards.
Williams lavished praise on Mike Moroney’s three-year-old, which became the sixth horse to complete the Wakeful Stakes-Crown Oaks double.
“She’s very similar to Miss Finland,” he said.
“I know she hasn’t dominated like a Miss Finland, but I can’t wait to see her in the autumn. She’s done everything now in the spring and to win the Oaks the way she did today, she’s a class filly.”
Williams was also quick to recognise Maher’s patience with Queen’s Cup winner Moudre, which finished second behind Americain in the Geelong Cup before narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Caulfield and Melbourne cups.
But the race eight triumph was also reward for the jockey, whose mounts had finished top-five in each of his six previous rides for the day.
That included Ortensia’s impressive third behind superstar Black Caviar in the Patinack Farm Classic and Dao Dao’s second in the Emirates Stakes.
Williams is at no risk of ruining his reputation as one of the hardest working jockeys in the land.
He sits atop the metropolitan jockeys’ premiership standings with 35 wins from 167 starts, and his rides have amassed over $4.2m in prize-money this season.
No wonder Damien was happy to have his little brother in the saddle at Cranbourne on Sunday.
