Gray Williamson was a winner on two fronts at Pinjarra yesterday with Dirty Habits scoring a flashing-light victory over 1700m while his new stallion Straight Charge also caught the eye parading between races for prospective breeders.
Dirty Habits is one of the most promising 3yo stayers in the State and a black-type career awaits in the seasons ahead for trainer Mitch Pateman and a syndicate managed by Justin Warwick. He was bred by Williamson using A Lot (USA) who stands at Westbury Park in West Pinjarra where Straight Charge will commence his stud career in September.
Narrikup-based Williamson and Westbury Park owner Phil Ibbotson will parade Straight Charge again during the LR Bolton Sprint (1200m) meeting at Belmont on Saturday and at Westbury Park on Sunday morning from 9am to 11am.
“For a minute there it must have felt like he was going to race again,” Williamson assumed with a knowing smile after a successful afternoon on Wednesday. “He looked the part and had a good look around but settled down soon enough.
“The overall reaction was very position and we kicked off with several bookings. That will build with two parades this weekend and another at the Bunbury races next Thursday.”
Straight Charge (Written By) owns a stallion’s pedigree through the precocious Written Tycoon sireline and was as fast as any colt of his generation as evidenced by a powerful front-running victory in the Group 2 ATC Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill.
Straight Charge parades at Pinjarra on Wednesday Photo: Western Racepix
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, he joined a post-2020 Silver Slipper roll-call headed by Hunter Valley-based champion stallions Home Affairs (Coolmore) and Farnan (Vinery).
Williamson has a renowned record for identifying and sourcing champion stallions the likes of Metal Storm (Fr), Oratorio (Stravinsky) and Playing God (Blackfriars) who is a week away from a fourth WA title in a row. Following a potent, injury-curtailed career, Gray purchased Straight Charge from Yulong Investments owner Yuesheng Zhang and he will stand for an introductory fee of $6,600 (inc GST) at Westbury Park.
