Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Trainer Danny Williams says his talented three-year-old Highway Strip is coming up better than ever for his return at Rosehill on Saturday as he takes the first step on a road he hopes leads to a start in The Kosciuszko.

Danny Williams (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Williams had to miss the Country Championships with the gelding, who he rates the best horse he has in training, as he battled feet issues in his two summer runs but says he’s confident those issues are now behind him.

The Kosciuszko is also on the radar for stablemate Bandi’s Boy who resumes in the Schweppes Sprint (1100m) having not raced since the $2m event last year.

“We’d like to get both horses in it. Touch wood we’ll have a better prep this time in and they can both show they are well and truly up to that level,” Williams said.

“The two starts that Highway Strip had he was battling a bit of a foot issue. We were training him on a set of shoes they call three quarter shoes, we were floating the heels to take pressure away from the sensitive part of his foot.

“Rather than push that preparation on to the Country Championships we needed to make sure the horse came first and we stopped. We were only going to risk him if we kept pushing him.

“He’s had that time in the paddock, we’ve done a fair bit with his feet since he’s returned and so far his feet look the best they’ve looked for a long time.”

Highway Strip is on the $11 line of betting on the $2m The Kosciuszko run on TAB Everest Day and $3 with TAB on Wednesday for his comeback race.

Despite those feet problems, he was able to run second behind Sir Remlap and again to Clear Thinking in successive Highways which were both marked by him running off the track.

In his latest trial, on Canberra’s synthetic track, Highway Strip closed in to run third behind Bandi’s Boy.

“He’s been trialling really well, he wasn’t really suited by the synthetic and didn’t appreciate the tighter circuit of the Acton track but both trials were quite nice,’’ he said.

“He only had a very soft one in his first one and we let him stretch out a little bit in the straight in the next. He had a strong gallop on Monday and we’re looking forward to his return.”

If there’s any concern from Williams it’s whether the 1100m, more particularly the 1100m around Rosehill, is on the short side for him fresh but he’s pleased to have a draw which should afford him some cover.

“He’s a big striding horse and likes a bit of room so hopefully if he’s amongst horses it’ll give him some guidance around the bend and then get into the clear,’’ he said.

“His work has been good, he’s very strong and finally matured and developed this preparation.

“We’re hoping to get him into the Kosciuszko, we’d like to think he can win (this) and I think he’ll be very hard to beat.”

Group 3 winner Bandi’s Boy could be a little vulnerable in his first run since he bled in last year’s Kosciuszko but Williams said he’s definitely more forward than at the start of that preparation.

The five-year-old has the inside alley in the Schweppes Sprint and Williams would like to see a positive return, and he’s sure he’ll get one.

Bandi's Boy (1st) and Highway Strip (3rd) trial at Canberra on July 4

“Nothing went right for him in the preparation and we thought his runs were sound in better class races,’’ he said.

“We brought him up very slowly and being a bit older this preparation he’s done extremely well.

“We haven’t put him under as much pressure we normally would because of the bleed. Whatever he’s going to do we expect quite a deal of improvement but I’m still confident he’s going to be competitive.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Rosehill meeting