Williamson holds strong hand

FANNY Hill leads trainer Phil Williamson’s threepronged attack on the Gold Chip trotting final at Wyndham tomorrow.

The 3yrold produced a scintillating debut win at last month’s Tuapeka Cup meeting.

On that performance and the promise the Muscle Hill filly has shown in trackwork, Williamson ranks her above her stablemates, Riteur and Our Gracie.

‘‘She is quite a good filly. It is quite a big ask for her to go out there and go twofortwo against horses that have had a bit of quality, but she will be hard to beat, I think,’’ he said.

Riteur shocked the stable with a horrid show of manners in her first start for the season at Ascot Park six days ago.

‘‘Riteur could win it if everything went right, but you wouldn’t believe she could do things right after her last run. That was a shock to us. She had a bad day at the office, but she could bounce back.’’

Our Gracie may be the stable’s thirdstringer, but that does not mean she does not have a decent chance.

‘‘The better run she gets, the higher finishing position she gets. She is probably an ideal horse for this race, really. She will give her best.’’

Williamson starts Zoey’s Gift in the opening race. She is also nominated for New Zealand Cup day, though her manners will dictate whether she races again on Tuesday.

Williamson has the classy Alderbeck and Jen Jaccka in the group 1 New Zealand Trotting FreeForAll on Tuesday.

Alderbeck began the season in excellent style before things went wrong in her last two starts. She was knocked out of contention in the South Bay Trotters Cup at Kaikoura and at her next start at Addington last week was below par.

‘‘She was awful. I was disappointed. I thought she would win with the run she had.

‘‘She was pushed back on the turn, in her defence, but I still wasn’t happy with her.

‘‘It all started at Kaikoura — the downhill spiral. I wasn’t intending to go to Addington but it was so disappointing that I thought we better get back to the races and make sure she is OK and she disappointed again.’’

Alderbeck is drawn to get a soft run behind Lemond from barrier 1 on the second row. Her performance will decide whether she runs in the Dominion at Addington on Friday.

Jen Jaccka was well held in Marcoola’s Ashburton Trotters Flying Mile before running third at Addington last Friday.

Williamson said the mare was a notch below the country’s top trotters, but the times she was running reflected her capabilities.

‘‘Who would have thought you could trot 1.56.3 and run 10th?’’

Veteran trotter Monty Python will head to the Dominion on Friday after pleasing his trainer with his effort for sixth at Addington last week.