Western Empire breaks $3 million barrier
Western Empire (7 g Iffraaj – Western Jewel by Jeune) took his career earnings past the $3 million mark on Saturday when flying home late to land the Hyperion Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) at Pinjarra Scarpside.
The Grant and Alana Williams-trained seven-year-old was ridden by William Pike and came home down the centre of the track to grab Magnificent Andy (Magnus) in the dying strides and score by 0.2 lengths.
There was a further 1.2 lengths back to Triple Missile (Smart Missile) in third place.
“We love this horse,” Grant Williams said. “He’s put in two bad runs over 1200 metres and all the experts write him off after that.
“There were only a couple of Group 1 winners in this race, which means they’re quality, and that’s what he is.
“We gallop them up hills, he’s done plenty of work. He had that foot issue and I’ll be honest, it still wasn’t that great yesterday, but he’s sound on it.
“Three-deep, no cover and he hit the line good. What else can I say? I can’t talk highly enough about this horse.”
Having run disappointingly in both the Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and The Quokka (1200m) when dropped to 1200 metres, Williams revealed Western Empire will be kept away from that distance.
“He’ll never go to 1200 metres again,” Williams said. “We learnt trying to be heroes and reading the papers. We thought it was easy winning 1200 [metres] and it’s not. He’s not a 1200-metre horse.
“He is a 1400-metre to maybe 2000-metre horse and we might even have a little dip at the Strickland Stakes. We might have to put some ear muffs or something on him.”