Inter Dominion high on the agenda for top WA pacer

Williams said the time-honoured series was well and truly on the radar, but added that no decision had been made on whether or not the Group 1 winner would make the trip east.

ID22 begins with the first round of heats in Ballarat on November 26 before the grand final at Melton on December 10.

“At the moment it’s better than 50-50 for sure,” Williams, 77, told thetrots.com.au.

“The main thing is the horse himself. At the moment, he’s been back in work a week and he’s as bright as a button.

“To me, even in himself, just those three or four weeks off, he’s improved and it hasn’t done him any harm those last five runs.

“At the moment he’s ticking all the boxes…”

Magnificent Storm has won 23 of 31 career starts – including the Group 1 4YO Classic at Gloucester Park early last year – for $445,242 in prizemoney.

Williams is wary that it could be an expensive trip to Victoria, but said the horse’s ownership group had expressed a desire to travel for the ID22 series.

“They’re keen to come for sure,” he said.

“We are still thinking about it, but there’s a lot of good money over here. And I know the horses over here, but I don’t know the horses over there (Victoria) so much.

“If the horse shows me that I think he can go over there and be competitive with the horses he’s going to come up against, we will definitely go because it’s my last chance to have a horse like this to get into an Inters…

“Everything about the horse tells me that he could go there and be competitive, it’s just a matter of now seeing how he comes back this time.”

While ID22 looms large, Williams remains most keen on chasing success in the Group 1 WA Pacing Cup early next year.

“I’m looking forward to that race more than anything,” he said.

The TAB has Magnificent Storm as a $21 chance to win the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship Grand Final at Melton on December 10.

by Tim O’Connor, for thetrots.com.au