Williams tips spring superstar

Racing scholar Lloyd Williams has taken a close interest in the development of the Melbourne Cup runner-up Maluckyday, which is set to start favourite in today's Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill.

The three-time Melbourne Cup-winning owner has ploughed untold millions into the racing game, and was the underbidder on Maluckyday when it went through New Zealand's premier yearling sale. The now gelding was knocked down for $625,000 to Nick Moraitis of Might And Power fame.

"I think he'll be 'Jack the Giant' this spring," Williams told The Age. "I think he'll come out and win the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup. He's the perfect type, he's athletic, he's good on his feet and has a wonderful horse trainer preparing him."

Maluckyday is trained by John Hawkes along with sons Michael and Wayne. "That's the key to a horse like Maluckyday," Williams said. "Hawkes, when he was with the Ingham brothers, took good horses to be very good horses. You look at Octagonal and Lonhro, and you'll see he got the very maximum out of them by being a skilled horseman.

"And the same will happen here. I know it would have been difficult for him last spring as to whether to run the horse in the Melbourne Cup or not. I know Nick Moraitis would have wanted him to start, and I think I would have, too. But I'm sure John Hawkes would have agonised over putting the horse first and the Melbourne Cup second."

Williams claimed the Adelaide Cup with the imported Muir last Monday and is chasing today's Sky High Stakes at Rosehill with the untapped Base, which, like Maluckyday, is by Zabeel. Base has won four from six and was a last-start winner over 1800m at Sandown.

Story: Craig Young SMH

Photo: www.sportpix.com.au