Railway Stakes: Good Project jockey Craig Williams’ audacious ride pays winning dividends

AN audacious plan to cross the field and take the lead in the early stages paid dividends for jockey Craig Williams when he won took the Group One Railway Stakes on Good Project.

SPORT - Super Saturday, Ascot, Perth. Photo by Daniel Wilkins. PICTURED - Race 8, Good Project leads all the way ridden by Craig Williams to win the Railway Stakes.

AN audacious plan to cross the field and take the lead in the early stages paid dividends for jockey Craig Williams when he won took the Group One Railway Stakes (1600m) on Good Project.

Even Williams said what he did in the early stages was “cheeky”.

“I thought I might have over done it but he jumped so well I just had to keep going with him. When he left the gates so fast he gave me no option,” Williams said.

Williams said he had been in contact throughout the day with the horses trainer Chris Waller who told him to take advantage of Good Project’s lightweight and go forward with him in the early stages.

The win gave Waller his tenth Group One win for the season and completed another successful day as he also had a double at Rosehill and won the Ballarat Cup with Junoob.

The win gave Williams his 44th Group One winner and his third in Perth.

It gave him his second Railway Stakes win as he won in 2010 on Gathering who he also led throughout on.

Waller’s stable foreman Justine Hales described Williams ride “as a pearler.”

“He summed it perfectly before the race. He said he had to jump out and get handy but we didn’t think he’d get to the lead that easily,” Hales said.

“He slowed them up and then waited to pinch that gap on them. He’s a great rider. He thinks things through so well and he knew that horse didn’t have much weight,” Hales said.

Good Project was entered for the 1500m Sandown Stakes eight days ago but they decided to come to Perth instead.

“About two days before that race we looked at what was in the Railway Stakes and thought it would be a good option,” she said.

Hales said they were looking at bringing other horses to Perth but they fell by the wayside.

“He ran so well on Melbourne Cup day with big weight so we aimed towards this race with his lightweight,” she said.

“The horse hadn’t had a hard carnival. Chris and Liam (Prior) do a good job picking races and this was the right race for him with his lightweight.”

Good Project ($6) defeated another eastern states galloper Messene ($12) by two lengths with Balmont Girl ($20) and top-weight Black Heart Bart ($6.50) dead-heating for third.

Black Heart Bart ran on from well back out wide but fellow Perth star $4 favourite Delicacy settled last and was never a factor but made ground to finish sixth.

BUFFERING PLUNDERS RICHES

Damian Browne onboard Buffering wins the Winterbottom Stakes. Picture: Graeme Collopy

They came, they saw, they conquered, the first an aging battle hardened warrior in the shape of tough as nails sprint champ Buffering, the other Good Project, a young emerging recruit to the Chris Waller trained Group 1 machine.

Together with their veteran riders, Damien Browne on board Buffering and Craig Williams on Good Project, they plundered the riches of the $1million Winterbottom Stakes and the $1million Railway Stakes of Ascot’s Super Saturday card yesterday in searing 34 degrees heat.

With the rail as close to the true position as it has been all season being positioned in the 3m position for the first time the combination of fresh unused ground, race tempo and prevailing weather conditions were all playing a crucial role for the majority of the day in determining results.

Browne as always on Buffering set a rolling tempo allowing the Qld gun bowl along at a good clip in front and it was left to the Dan Morton trained Waterman Bays to put in an enormous effort to make ground down the outside into a gallant second.

But try as he might he was never going to pick up the winner who established a new race record of 1.08.17 for the 1200m in the process, eclipsing Ortensia’s previous mark of 1.08.56.

Williams took full advantage of Good Project’s quick beginning and light weight of 53kg to take the rapidly improving four-year-old to the front and a relatively easy lead soon after the start of the Ascot mile from which he controlled proceedings to his liking.

Kicking clear soon after straightening he comfortably held Messene who tracked the winner throughout and Balmont Girl, who also snuck along the rails late but neither could make any impression on the winner who scored by two lengths.

Earlier trainer Rob Heathcote said that Buffering had just settled in so well that Perth was “just like his second home.”

“Melanie who’s with him, rides him and takes him everywhere, knows him back to front, gave me the thumbs up when she got here today and said he’s ready.”

Heathcote hinted that all going well a trip to Dubai for their World Cup carnival may be on the agenda.

“We’ll go home now, he flies home on Monday, there’s a Magic Millions race early January that he’ll be damn hard to beat, if he comes through that in good order, he’s such a good traveller, I’d love to go shake hands with the Sheikh.”

Craig Williams who continued his remarkable strike rate seemingly whenever he ventures west admitted he had to switch the horse on prior to his Railway triumph.

“When I got on the horse he was in holiday mode, he was a bit cheeky, so I gave him a good warm up to get him back on to race mode … I got the instructions from Chris throughout the day and he was great he said, look trust the horse, this is what we targeted him for and go and do it and I was lucky that I had the horse to deliver,” Williams said.