Williams wary of key opponents

By Jonny Turner

He might be driving the hot favourite, but driver Tim Williams goes into the Group Three Invercargill Cup with full respect for his opposition.

Williams will attempt to make it a southern cups double with Alta Wiseguy who heads to Southland after a brilliant win in the Central Otago Cup earlier this month.

The Steve and Amanda Telfer trained pacer looks perfectly placed on his 10m handicap, with a crucial head-start over his main rivals Pembrook Playboy (20m) and One Change (20m).

But Williams isn’t taking anything for granted.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, a 10m on those horses has got to be a good advantage.”

“We are lucky this week that that is one advantage we do have over them.”

“We have got a bit of confidence but also a lot of respect for the horses behind us.”

“He is only four but he keeps taking those steps forward and on Saturday hopefully he takes another step.”

“I am sure with the way he is he won’t disappoint.”
Alta Wiseguy doesn’t have any advantage of over another of the leading contenders in Cranbourne.

The Brent White trained runner, who is sure to strip fitter after a very good run at Addington last week behind Above N Beyond, also starts from the 10m mark.

Alta Wiseguy heads south after a freshen up following his Central Otago Cup win.

The team couldn’t be happier with the way the horse has worked back up to peak fitness for Saturday’s feature.

“He has been quite good, he had a few quiet days once he got home from Omakau,” Williams said.

“He has picked up well again and he had a nice, quiet trial and hopefully he is as good as we can have him come Saturday.”

Pembrook Playboy will be out to defend his Invercargill Cup title of 2021 on Saturday.

Trainer Nathan Williamson has given the pacer two reasonable quiet workouts in his return from injury.

Regardless of what they may suggest, Williamson is adamant his pacer is ready to rumble.

“I am pretty happy with him and he is as ready as I can have him,” the trainer-driver said.

“It will be interesting to see how things pan out, hopefully he will step away as well as he can and we will sum things up from there.”

“The small fields can be a bit tricky, but he is pretty adaptable, he has got manners and he can do a bit of work.”

“He is an all-around horse, really.”

“I would like to think with a bit of luck on his side he will be very hard to beat.”

Tim Williams reunites with smart three-year-old Beach Ball in Saturday’s Southern Supremacy Stakes heat.

The Kevin Chapman trained pacer looks very hard to beat considering his only defeat this time in came when taking on Republican Party from a tough draw.

“The Supremacy is a race Kevin has targeted for the horse for a while – he is a home bred and it looks pretty suitable for him,” Williams said.

“It looks that way on Saturday, too.”

“He should be very competitive.”

Beach Ball starts from the outside of the front line in barrier 7.