Tough Willaidow shines bright in the Southern Cross Stakes

Purchased for just $7000 and with one leg held together by pins, Willaidow’s tenacity on the racetrack has trainer Marc Conners dreaming of big achievements. The six-year-old gelding showcased his grit once again at Rosehill on Saturday, fending off all challengers to claim victory in the Group Three Southern Cross Stakes (1200m), his first black-type win pushing his career earnings past $580,000.

This first-up triumph adds another chapter to Willaidow’s remarkable journey, which began when Conners bought him sight unseen from an online dispersal sale. “He was an untried three-year-old gelding who had never been broken in, so nobody had had their hands on him,” Conners recalled. “He was by Shamus Award, so a little bit of pedigree. I’ve done it half a dozen times since, and they’ve done nothing. That’s what this game is about. There are no rules.”

Despite his bargain price, Willaidow’s career nearly ended prematurely. After securing his second win at Nowra in his sixth start, he broke his leg. Conners’ immediate reaction? “Lucky he won because it’s a $10,000 operation,” he quipped. “He’s got three pins in his leg. It was a cannon bone. They say it heals very well, and it’s highly successful.”

The surgery proved to be a success, with Willaidow going on to win six more races and counting. Conners hasn’t set a definitive plan for the gelding this autumn but admits he would love to target a race like the Doncaster Mile. “There is no set plan. There are plenty of options for him. We will take our time; every two or three weeks, there is a race, and I think he will be better when he gets to 1400 and 1500 metres,” Conners said. “I’d love to get him to the Doncaster, but there are other options. He loves wet tracks, and if it happens to rain in Melbourne, he might go to Melbourne.”

Conners described Willaidow as a challenging horse to assess at home, but his competitive spirit shines on race day. “He’s a hard horse to get a line on because he’s a terrible trackworker, he falls-in in his trials, he sweats up badly before a race, he gets around like a crab. But he gets out there on race day and just finds another gear,” Conners said. “He wants a fight. The closer they get to him, the harder he fights.”

With regular jockey James McDonald unable to make Willaidow’s 54kg weight, Tyler Schiller took the ride and was impressed by the gelding’s resilience. “I thought he was all-out the last 100 metres, but he just kept finding. He’s so tough,” Schiller said. “The lightweight, I think, helped, but he has beaten some nice horses. Some in-form horses.”

Willaidow ($4.20) won by a head over Iowna Merc ($8), with Brudenell ($6.50) another three-quarters of a length away in third.