Which Williamson will win “The Gift”?

This Sunday one of the feature races on the Oamaru harness racing card is the $40,000 Group Three Jasmyn’s Gift Fillies and Mares Stakes.

The race is named after Jasmyn’s Gift which was bred by Phil and Bev Williamson and she was named after their daughter Jasmyn.

Phil trained her to win seventeen races and she’s a special horse to the family.

“She was a real good mare. She probably lacked the high speed and brilliance of a couple of the other ones we had in the team but there was none stronger than her. She was a very good staying mare,” said Nathan Williamson, who drove her to win five times.

Phil drove her for most of her early wins but in August 2006 Nathan took over the reins.

“I’d had a season coming through the ranks and Dad was still driving her at that stage. I was lucky because Mum and Dad owned her and they afforded me the opportunity to drive her in a low grade race at Addington in winter. She won, won again, then won the Ordeal. It culminated in her winning the Free for All on Show Day.”

And the whole family was present on Show Day to celebrate the win.

“Yep, they were all there getting their photo taken. It was a wet day so we all looked like drowned rats.”

When she won the 2005 Group One New Zealand Trotting Championship, Jasmyn’s Gift was Phil and Bev’s first Group One winner as breeders and owners and when she took out the New Zealand Trotting Free For All she provided Nathan with his first Group One winning drive.

Sunday’s race is the fourth edition of the Jasmyn Gift.

“It’s probably going to be the best betting race of the day. There’s a heap of talented mares. I think HRNZ noticed there weren’t any mares races for trotters. Gee,these races for mares have been well supported since they started the Silk Road and all these races. They’ve probably kept a lot of mares in New Zealand in training.”

Phil has two runners in this year’s edition – Practical Magic (Majestic Son) who’ll run off the front and Empire City (Volstead) who will start off 20 metres.

Practical Magic was held up and broke at her last start at Kurow and has since been back to the trials.

“She hasn’t been trotting as good as she was in her last prep so we’ve got our fingers cross we’ll get a better run from her on Sunday. It’s not going to be easy because it’s a very strong field,” Phil said.

Empire City is the richest money earner in the race and shares the twenty metre handicap with Eurostyle. At her last start at Addington she was finishing her race off strongly, running third behind Muscle Mountain and Midnight Dash.

“She’s got to have a chance, but it’s a very strong race with numerous chances and it’ll come down to how the race is run. Fred Fletchers horse (Royal Gypsy) is quite capable of going to the front and putting the pressure on for the whole race. That’ll make it very difficult for those backmarkers because if they try and move on fast tempo that won’t be an easy trip. I was thinking at it can’t be won by a horse off the front but if there was enough pressure in the race maybe it could be.”

So what does Phil think about Empire City’s chances?

“I’d like to think she’d be one of the winning chances. Eurostyle is definitely the class horse in the race but can she do it off 30 (metres)? She might be the sort of horse that can do work and still win. She looks exceptionally good.”

Matty trains and drives Princess Sadie (Muscle Mass) who starts off the front line. She last raced at Addington in early August where mistakes cost her. She’s since been freshened and she won a trial on Wednesday.

“She went pretty good and I’m happy with her going into the races. She’s obviously fresh up but she usually goes well that way. In her last race she got her head around a bit so I’ve put a pole on her this week to square her up. Touch wood it’ll be back to business as usual. I expect the handicap horses will be hardest to beat. They’re all strong enough to make midrace moves and in the last lap you could see a bit of action. Hopefully we can get a nice run and be there abouts,” Matty said.

Brad also has one runner, Mixed Faith (Father Patrick). Her form line is excellent, but Sunday’s race is a considerable rise in class for the eight win squaregaiter.

“It’s a big field and we’ve got a mare that’s probably in the form of her life. She perhaps lacks the ability of some of the best mares in the race. Our goal will be to step away as quickly as possible and hopefully make it tough for some of the backmarkers,” Brad said.

Rounding out the Williamson assault on “The Gift” is Hidden Talent (Bacardi Lindy) trained and driven by Nathan Williamson.

She was an impressive winner at Kurow four weeks ago and starts off the 30 metre handicap.

“I was going to take her to the Ordeal. Then the handicaps changed for the Jasmyn’s Gift and I thought 30 metres was manageable. Even though it’s going to be extremely difficult it gives her some chance of getting into the money. The race should bring her on for Banks Peninsula which has been her target. There are a lot of good mares in there and the winner could come from any one of ten runners. She’s going to need a lot of luck from where she’s starting and with the size of the field. She’s better driven for one run. It’ll depend on the pace of the race. If they went hard we might be able to get a drag into it at the right time,” Nathan said.

As the race is named after her, we thought we’d request Jasmyn Williamson’s thoughts on who’s going to win. As predicted by one of her brothers, she’s going with her Dad in choosing Empire City.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink