Team Williams start to roll out Spring Carnival hopes at Moonee Valley

You know the Spring Carnival has arrived when Team Williams start to roll out their European imports and punters will get an early look at Foundry and The United States in the $80,000 Sportingbet Handicap (11500m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday.

Foundry, blue, white armbands, kicks off his Spring Carnival campaign at Moonee Valley.

Foundry, blue, white armbands, kicks off his Spring Carnival campaign at Moonee Valley. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.

Foundry and The United States are both nominated for the Group 1 $2.5m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 18 and the Group 1 $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 25 and both will get better as the distances increase further into their campaigns.

Macedon Lodge will be having its first runner since May 7 when Marskmanship ran second at Sandown but all that is going to change in the next few weeks.

Lloyd and Nick Williams are renowned for making an impact on the Spring Carnival with Nick Williams saying that he will have to split his attention between racing and football now that they are heading back to the races after a Winter break.

“There’s plenty to do,” Nick Williams told the Racing Victoria News.

“There’s enough football on.

“But we’ll have a lot of runners over the next few weeks with a bit of luck and hopefully they can put their best foot forward over coming months.”

Williams said that the team had used the 1500m race successfully in the past to launch the Spring campaigns of several imports including Green Moon who went on to run second in the 2011 Caulfield Cup after contesting the Moonee Valley race.

Green Moon then went on to win the Group 1 $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington the following year.

“This is a race we like, it’s a good starting point for them and the track’s always in good order there at Moonee Valley,” Williams said.

“We’ve had this race in mind for these two for a few weeks.”

The lightly race Foundry make an instant impact at his first run in Australia for Macedon Lodge with a narrow win over 1400m at Flemington in February before finishing second to Lidari in the Group 2 $220,000 Incognitus Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on March 8.

The Galileo stallion was then put away before beginning his Spring Carnival preparation as was The United States who finished fourth at his only start for the stable in the Listed $120,000 Super Saturday Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on March 8.

Foundry has already had a taste of Group 1 racing, finishing fifth to Leading Light in the 2013 Group 1 £600,000 Ladbrokes St Leger Stakes (1 mile, 6 furlong, 132 yards) at Doncaster in England while The United States, also by Galileo, has a Group 3 win on his record after taking out the €59,999 KPMG Enterprise Stakes (2011m) at Leopardstown in Ireland on September 7 last year.

“They seem like nice horses but my word of warning, as always, is we’re seeing them at home and you need to see them under race conditions. Plus, 1500 metres is well short of where they’re best suited,” Williams said.

“At this time of the spring (campaign), they’re certainly not betting propositions for me. I just want to see how they go.”

But bookmakers are keeping the Macedon Lodge pair safe in the betting for the Sportingbet Handicap with Ladbrokes.com.au posting Foundry as the early favourite at $4.40 with The United States also well up the market order at $8.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.