Craig Williams digs in for shot at city title

THERE will be no midyear escape for Craig Williams this winter. Instead of heading to Japan, he said his wife wanted him to win the Melbourne Jockeys’ Premiership.

Craig Williams pilots Tarquin to an impressive victory. Picture: Getty Images

THERE will be no midyear escape for Craig Williams this winter.

Instead of heading to Japan, he said his wife wanted him to win the Melbourne Jockeys’ Premiership.

Williams did his best to oblige at Caulfield on Saturday, taking the lead with a treble in the Godolphin blue — Antelucan, Tarquin and Unbreakable.

He now sits on 52 city winners for the season, two ahead of the suspended Dwayne Dunn and five clear of the suspended Damien Oliver.

“This competition is great … everyone’s very competitive in Victoria, and it just makes us all go to the next level,” Williams said.

Godolphin assistant trainer David Charles said three-year-old geldings Tarquin and Unbreakable had both earned tickets to the 2500m Group 1 South Australian Derby on May 14.

Unbreakable led from start to finish over 1800m, while Charles said Tarquin had been strong late over 2000m against the older horses, chasing down favourite Zahspeed.

He said Tarquin would be suited by an extra 500m, but neither he nor Williams were prepared to split the John O’Shea-trained pair heading towards the Derby.

“They’re both going to derive a lot from today,” Williams said.

“I don’t think either of them had an ideal run in their races and yet still found themselves to be too good.”

Craig Williams and Antelucan combine to take out the first race. Picture: Getty Images

The jockey is building a formidable partnership in Melbourne with Godolphin.

“Their operation is very unique — it feels like Formula One driving, they only get you down to test a couple of horses,” he said.

“But they’ve got a system that works really well and luckily for me I get the opportunity on race day on their nice horses.”

Meanwhile, Lindsay Park co-trainer Tom Dabernig said first-up winner Kayjay’s Joy would head to Adelaide in three weeks for the Group 3 1200m Proud Miss Stakes for fillies and mares.

“She’s a talented mare and she’s earned herself a ticket to go and get a bit of black type now,” Dabernig said.

Craig Williams and Unbreakable win the seventh race. Picture: Getty Images

MRC defends special meeting and voting process

MELBOURNE Racing Club has defended a voting process that granted its chairman and two high-ranking officials an extra six years in office.

Members of the club, which oversees Caulfield Racecourse, voted on Thursday night at a special general meeting to amend an existing MRC rule.

Committee members would now be allowed to serve 12 years in an office bearer’s position instead of a mandatory six.

Chairman Mike Symons, vice-chairman Peter Le Grand and treasurer Dominic Romanelli were all coming to the end of their six-year tenures and under the old rules would have been forced to stand down.

MRC General Manager of Racing Jake Norton said an assertion that postal vote forms were made available selectively before Thursday’s vote was simply incorrect.

“This is clearly evidenced by the material amount of ‘no’ votes among postal votes,” he said.

It was alleged that Le Grand sent an email to a select group of friends that are members on how to fill out a postal vote.

Of 139 postal votes, 29 were against the amendment. Of the 61 members at the special general meeting, 34 were against the change.

“The process around the special resolution of a proposed amendment to club rules was overseen by an independent arbitrator, an experienced expert in voting and election services,” Norton said.

”The opportunity to vote, via postal vote or in person at the special general meeting, was made to every Melbourne Racing Club member.”

Norton said the MRC notified members of the special general meeting and proposed club rule amendment by email or post.

He said in addition the club provided detailed information on the voting process on the MRC website, which was “recognised as the hub of club and member information”.

“The club fielded many requests to postal vote through the provision of this information,” he said.