Williams hoping first trip West is a fruitful one in Perth Cup

The famous navy-blue colours with a white armbands and cap will get another chance at Cup success tomorrow, when Serpentine lines up in the Perth Cup (2400m) at Ascot.

The colours have been the first past the finishing post in seven Melbourne Cups, most recently with Twilight Payment in 2020, as well as four Sydney Cups.

Now Lloyd and Nick Williams will be hoping to add a Perth Cup to the collection with the 2020 Epsom Derby winner.

Nick Williams said he was looking forward to finally having a runner in Western Australia, where he expected feature races to continue to attract quality fields going forward with recent prizemoney increases.

“The reality is it’s hard to win away from home,” Williams told TABradio.

“Perth is a plane trip away and adds another dimension to it.

“I think your authorities over there have done a good job in getting prize money to a level where they are encouraging the east coast horses to come over.

“I think it makes a great event of it.

“I think it adds intrigue to the race.

“We’ve never had a runner over in the west before, so it’s exciting to get over there.”

Serpentine arrived in Perth last Tuesday, alongside the Danny O’Brien-trained Young Werther, in preparation for the Group 2 event.

Williams said the eight-year-old had acclimatised well to his new surroundings.

“By all reports he’s travelled really well,” he said.

“He’s had a bit of travel in his life, so it shouldn’t affect him too much.

“The hot weather is a bit of a challenge, but he’s an older horse and they seem to cope with it better.

“All things being equal, we expect him to put his best foot forward tomorrow.”

Chad Schofield makes the trip west to ride the son of Galileo, who has drawn barrier 14.

Serpentine enters the Group 2 event off the back of a fourth placing behind Arapaho in the Zipping Classic (2400m) last month in heavy conditions.

Williams said he was happy with the wide draw and getting back on a good track tomorrow.

“He’s a horse that needs rhythm and momentum and the biggest danger with him is inside draws,” he said.

“The fact Chad will be able to get him into a rhythm and probably slide forward on him, we were pretty happy with the draw.

“He ran well in the Zipping Classic because he hates wet tracks.

“The firmer the track the better for him.”

Serpentine is a $9 chance with TABtouch for the Perth Cup, with Diamond Scene a $4.40 favourite.