Richard Williams will be a triple threat in the feature race at Tamworth Paceway on Thursday, the $8,000 Psarakis Accounting Marathon Pace.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Tamworth-based trainer has Midnight Montana, Gottashopearly and The Puritan entered in the race, to be staged over the longer distance of 2730 metres,.
All three have good draws.
READ ALSO:
“I’m very proud to have three runners in the race,” Williams said.
For race start 199, Midnight Montana has drawn the two barrier and will be driven by Tamworth reinswoman Sarah Rushbrook.
“Sarah did a good job when she drove him to get into a Menangle final so I am happy with that combination,” Williams said.
Rushbrook has only had one other drive behind the gelding when finishing second in a Menangle Country Series heat conducted at Tamworth.
In the 2017 running of the Marathon Midnight, Montana finished fourth while Gottashopearly finished third to Bathurst pacer Itsallaboutlou from the Nathan Hurst stables.
“Of the three runners, I reckon at the end of the 2730m he [Midnight Montana] will be coming home [the strongest],” Williams said.
Williams will steer The puritan from the nine barrier.
“He has got a good draw but I am thinking he has got a 50/50 chance of winning at the moment. He finished third to Gottashopearly last week,” Williams said.
“We have been working towards the Marathon. It was a goal we set for the horses.”
Williams is assisted with the training and stable work by his finance Ashleigh McKinnon.
Gottashopearly comes into the longer-distance race off a last-start win at Tamworth over the 2360m, and will commence from the 10 barrier with in-form reinsman Brad Elder accepting the drive.
Elder is leading the drivers’ premiership at Tamworth and has notched up eight wins in the last month.
“Brad has got a good strike rate on Gottashopearly,” Williams said. “He is flying at the moment.”
Elder has had seven drives behind Gottashopearly, for three wins and two placings.
Last week at Tamworth, Gottashopearly won with a mile rate of 1min 59.4sec over 2360 metres, the winning margin 25.5m over Christian Shannon (Sarah Rushbrook), with stable mate The Puritan (Peter Hedges) was further 2.9m away in third.
“They were running along quite quickly, which suited him,” Williams said of Gottashopearly’s performance in that race.
