Lloyd Williams says Kerry Packer would have unleashed on Vauban in 2023 Melbourne Cup

He’s been gone for 18 years, but Melbourne Cup king Lloyd Williams reckons Kerry Packer would have bet up big on one particular horse this year.

Good friends Lloyd Williams and Kerry Packer at the opening of Crown Casino back in 1997.

Melbourne Cup king Lloyd Williams believes favourite Vauban is such a good thing that his famed former gambling mate Kerry Packer would have unleashed and had bookies quivering.

Packer has been gone for 18 years, but Williams can still hear his thunderous tones and the horses and big bets he loved.

“If I was back in my punting days with Kerry, we would certainly make this horse start a very warm favourite,” Williams said in an exclusive interview.

“If Kerry and I were having a proper bet, we would be on the favourite to win plenty.

“I don’t bet any more. But Kerry and I used to have a lot of fun gambling.

“If I was back in my days with Kerry we would certainly make this horse start favourite.”

Kerry Packer (right) and Lloyd Williams chat at the blackjack table at Crown Casino croupier back in 1997. Picture: File

• Bookmaker fears losing $3m from dodgy Ponzi scheme

Williams’s friendship with Packer, who died in 2005, is said to have sprung from their mutual love of racing.

Packer loved a Melbourne Cup plunge and had bookies on their knees in 1997 when Might And Power won and also the following year when Australia’s richest man placed his faith in Jezabeel and Champagne, who ran the quinella.

Seven-time Melbourne Cup winning owner Williams feels Packer would have certainly backed Vauban, trained by Willie Mullins and owned by eccentric billionaire and investment banker Rich Ricci, to win a fortune.

Lloyd Williams (left) and Kerry Packer at the races in 1994.

Vauban has been at the top of Melbourne Cup betting since smashing his rivals by 7½ lengths in a 2816m handicap during the Royal Ascot carnival in June.

Vauban this week stunned onlookers with a sensational spin around the Flemington track and Williams has seen him up close and personal at Werribee.

“If you saw him he looks like a gridiron player, he is a tough horse,” Williams, 83, said.

Melbourne Cup favourite Vauban has put in a slashing gallop at Flemington this morning. He worked with his stablemate and fellow Cup runner, Absurde 👇

⁦@gilbertgardiner⁩ ⁦@FlemingtonVRC⁩ pic.twitter.com/h6ixwdDCjy

— Racenet (@RacenetTweets) October 30, 2023

“He is not terribly tall and he is the perfect looking animal.

“I have been to Werribee a couple of times and I know the team who have got the favourite.

“He will be extremely difficult to beat.

“He has got the best jockey I believe in the world at the moment, Ryan Moore.

“And David Casey (travelling foreman) who is out here with Vauban is a horseman who would be a leading trainer if he wasn’t with Willie Mullins.

Owner Lloyd Williams after Rekindling won the 2017 Melbourne Cup. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

• $17 million collect and other famous Cup plunges

“They know what they require, they have been out here a few times.

“This horse is absolutely prepared for the race.

“I love the horse, he is the right type of horse for the race.

“He is by a stallion that not many people know (Galiway) but he is from the Galileo line and they certainly can stay.”

If Vauban doesn’t get the chocolates on the first Tuesday in November, a Cup horse that Williams says can potentially challenge is Caulfield Cup winner Without A Fight.

Williams believes the Melbourne Cup weights are so compressed these days that the winner will almost certainly be one near the top of the weights.

Lloyd Williams (right) looking at Vauban at Werribee recently. Picture: Getty Images.

• ‘He’ll show the world how good he is’: Big call for Golden Eagle

“My second pick in the race would be the Caulfield Cup winner,” Williams said.

“If I was betting, I might have a little saver on that horse.

“Anthony Freedman and his son are very good trainers and they prepared Without A Fight so well for the Caulfield Cup.

“With 56.5kg I think that horse has a great chance. He wants it dry and it will be dry.

“Mark Zahra, who is at the peak of his powers, will ride Without A Fight and Ryan Moore is riding Vauban, and they are great jockeys.

Without A Fight and Mark Zahra won the Caulfield Cup. Picture: Getty Images.

• Gai Waterhouse lashes Melbourne Cup weight scale

“Up the top of the weights is where you will find the winner, in my opinion.

“I think the horses down in the weights could struggle as the (weight) spread is not wide enough for them.

“There was a big (weight) spread in the old days, these days it’s a very narrow spread.”

Williams, who won the last of his seven Cups with Twilight Payment in 2020, will have Cleveland ($26) and Serpentine ($51) trying to score him another Melbourne Cup next Tuesday.

He says he is hopeful, rather than confident, that his horses can make an impact.

“Whether my horses have got the class to win the Melbourne Cup, I have no idea,” Williams said.

Originally published as Lloyd Williams says Kerry Packer would have unleashed on Vauban in 2023 Melbourne Cup