Team Williams were at full stretch on Bank Holiday Monday with half of their entire racing strength competing on the same day – and they both won.
The day started well as Allowdale Bruno made up for his near miss in Sunderland’s Ted Lloyd Classic by taking the £1,000 Rosebowl at Pelaw Grange’s matinee meeting. The blue got home by a length from Two For Tea in 25.83 for the 435 metres.
Braving logjam traffic on the A1, the Geordies headed south to Doncaster for the final of the £4,000 BGBF British Bred Oaks. It had been reduced to four runners following the withdrawals of Fabulous Amity and Queen Franklin.
4-7f Pond Natalya went from trap two . .
The winner’s time was 29.83 for the 483 metres with Queen Cher second and Witton Derecho third.
Like a lot of kennels, dual fixtures at tracks 100 miles apart are not easy on Bank Holidays, though this particular team was not unduly overstretched.
“We have one full time member of staff, one part time, with myself and Rita helping out”
So how many racing dogs do you have?
“Four, but we do have ten retireds too” suggested an overly defensive Geordie.
It certainly seems to be working for a team who have just completed an open race seven-timer. Despite approaching a big ‘0’ – (think ‘days to get around the world’), Harry still works full time in his business as well as overseeing the kennel.
He said: “It was a very enjoyable day. I was at Pelaw for Bruno’s race, I had also sponsored a race and saw another gutsy perfomance. What more can you say about him? He isn’t the fastest that I have trained – he is not that bad either, only just being caught in the Sunderland final by a top class bitch – but he never gives up or runs a bad race.
“I then got back in time to travel down to Doncaster with Rita and Pond Natalya”
Natalya was from the sixth generation bred by Harry and Rita Williams with a dam line tracing back to the great brood Soda Pop.
Harry said: “There were five in the litter (by Blue Artisan) out of Pond Tanzanite (Hondo Black-Pond Shakira). It was the dam’s only litter, she was nearly nine when she had them but they turned out very pleasing. Apart from the brother (Pond Adonis), there was another bitch who broke a hock plus one who had a toe problem and is unraced.
“She is very much like Natalya, absolutely fanatically keen. I intend to take her to King Elvis when she comes in season. He is a dog I like a lot and is apparently getting plenty of bitches including some from Ireland. I would also hope to breed with Natalya at some stage.
“She is a lovely bitch, and is really a stayer. But you don’t mind coming to a track like Doncaster with one like her. I always feel that when you go there with the best dog, you usually win. In my opinion, it is one of the best tracks in the country.”
