Rydgemont Son on Best Behaviour

Bruce Stewart Contributor

“He made a good beginning which was probably the key to the win. Making a good start has been one of his problems,” said Brad Williamson trainer driver of Rydgemont Son which beat Davey Mac to win his fifth race at Ascot Park yesterday.

Rydgemont Son – File

It was in stark contrast to the five year old’s previous start when he became unsettled by a false start, broke at the beginning of the re-run and finished sixth, nine lengths behind winner Full Noise.

“A few of the horses got on the toe that day like Rydgemont Son and Davey Mac, so it was nice to get the quinella today.”

Rydgemont Son is owned by Ray and Joan Scott and started his career with Oamaru trainer Murray Tapper who also trained the horse’s dam Domination.

“Ray is a part owner of Cracker Hill and came to watch him as a two year old. He then decided to give Rydgemont Son a go in my stable because he was galloping a lot for Murray. The horse had always shown ability. At our Oamaru trials I remember him qualifying and Dad said he quite liked him then. ”

And Williamson says the gelding is slowing getting better with his stand start manners.

“I told Ray a long time ago that by the time he’s had thirty to forty starts be may be a good genuine standing start horse. Ray joked and said he’d be dead by then. He’s about 84.”

Yesterday’s start was Rydgemont Son’s twenty eighth and twenty fourth from a stand.

Like most horses he was forced into lockdown during Covid 19 and Williamson says the plan now is to carry on.

“He’s racing quite well. The races they’re programming at the moment over 2200 metres are a good thing because it means the horses can back up and don’t necessary have to have hard runs.”

Yesterday’s result was also another ‘prefect four’ for the Williamson family with Brad winning, Phil finishing second with Davey Mac, Nathan third with Crusher Collins and Matty fourth with Only One Way.

Brad thinks it’s about the third time the family has achieved this feat.

The Williamson brothers are fast closing in on having 2000 collective New Zealand winners. Their total currently stands at 1997 with Matty leading the charge on 859, Nathan on 819 and Brad on 319.

Earlier in the programme Rydgemont Son’s half-sister Rydgemont Milly recorded her sixth win.

She was bred by Stephen Bell who owns Domination along with the Scotts. Rydgemont Milly is raced by Debbie Shirley who trains her with husband Mark. John Morrison drove the eight year old yesterday.

Earlier in the day the Williamson name was to the fore when Arc De Triomphe won for trainer Phil and driver Brad.

The three year old having only his second start, began well and lead all the way to beat the more favoured stable mate Miss Crazed.

“He’s the sort of horse that doesn’t have a lot of speed and can’t change up gears. Matt said at his last start he got back in the field, but was doing his best work at the finish. With a better beginning we took the bull by the horns and a front running rolling along style suits a big gangly horse like him.”

Williamson says he wasn’t confident until the last fifty metres.

“I know she (Miss Crazed) is probably more talented because I’ve driven her at the trials a few times. I thought after my horse made a good beginning I knew we’d be in the money. I didn’t know  Matthew’s horse (Miss Crazed) had made a mistake and lost forty to fifty metres at the start. I never pulled the plug on him so he won with a bit in hand.”

The winning margin was four and a quarter lengths with Miss Crazed getting home late to run second.

Arc De Triomphe is by Quaker Jet out of the Sundon mare Juliana and is raced by The Griffin’s Syndicate and Seafield Trotting Syndicate who’ve raced a number of horses out of Juliana, including Monty Python and Dark Horse.

Meanwhile Brad’s stable star Cracker Hill resumed racing at Addington last Friday running second behind the talented Greg and Nina Hope trained Matua Tana.

“Really happy with him. He seems to have come through that run well. I’ll give him a bit of a freshener. I’ll target another race for him potentially in Invercargill and then look to head to Australia with him later in the season.”

The Phil Williamson trained Majestic Man also resumed earlier this week and also had to play second fiddle to Matua Tana but Brad says he and his father were happy with the run.

“He’s a horse that takes a run or two to get into form. He’s been beaten in his first run back a couple of times. He did over race quite badly the other night. It took a bit out of him and being in a fresh state may have been the undoing of him but I expect him to improve. If they carded a similar race for him in a couple of weeks I’d expect him to be very hard to beat.”