Team Williams again show why they’re the best in the West as Storyville takes out Champion Fillies Stakes

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Team Williams again show why they’re the best in the West as Storyville takes out Champion Fillies Stakes

Grant and Alana Williams yet again showed why they are the best in the West, presenting Storyville for a scintillating success in the Group 3 $300,000 TABtouch WA Champion Fillies Stakes (1600m) at Ascot, securing a record seventh win in the race.

Storyville, a $7 TABtouch elect, entered Saturday’s contest having finished eighth in the Burgess Queen, the conventional lead-up assignment, with several others who beat her home that day ahead of her in the market.

Her task was made no easier when the gates opened and Divine Impact ($13) leapt left into her at the start and shuffled the home-bred filly back to last with jockey William Pike committing to a rails run.

Diamond Dancer ($6.50) strolled to the front from Ron’s Finalflutter ($4.40) and the pair jammed on the brakes, with many runners resenting the crawling tempo and throwing their heads proudly aloft.

Considering the dawdling pace, Storyville had found a surprisingly comfortable rhythm but was still back last when the field began to turn for home.

In typical Pike style, the leading jockey began to thread a way through traffic and the three-year-old started to lengthen.

Camera IconStoryville wins the 2024 WA Champion Fillies Stakes for jockey William Pike. Credit: Simon Merritt/Simon Merritt / Western Racepix

Over the final 250m, the giant Overshare filly took strides seemingly double the size of her rivals, with Pike merely shaking the reins as the big freight train gained liftoff.

Storyville burst up the inside of Ron’s Finalflutter, surging clear over the final 100m and storming clear to win by two lengths eased down.

Grant Williams said Storyville could back up in next week’s WA Guineas, a race she firmed to $10 for following the victory.

“We had a really good wrap on this horse from day dot,” Williams said.

“We were probably riding her a bit too confident for her first few runs, which was setting her up to be racing like she is, but (Pike) knows her really well and it’s good seeing that.

“(Alana) trains, she breeds, she does everything.

“They’re only three once and she’s in really good nick this horse.

“If you win the Champion FIllies’ and if she pulls up good, we’ve probably got to have a go at the Guineas.

“This blew me away.”

Pike praised the training effort of the dynamic duo he regularly combines with.

“Three starts ago if you said I was going to sit last and win a mile, I would have said no way,” Pike said.

“That’s what these guys are capable of.”

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Team #Williams #show #theyre #West #Storyville #takes #Champion #Fillies #Stakes

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up