Craig Williams looking forward to returning for Finals Day

Although Craig Williams doesn't possess the record for the most victories in the Winter Championship Final, no jockey has exerted as much influence on the day of this prestigious Flemington race as the highly regarded veteran rider.

His sole triumph in the $200,000 Listed Flemington feature came aboard Magic Consol, contributing to a record-setting haul on the 2018 Finals Day card.

That performance saw him achieve six wins, a record for a single Melbourne meeting by an individual jockey. This surpassed the previous benchmark he held jointly with several other riders, achieved with five wins at the same meeting two years earlier.

He also rode a treble at the 2015 meeting and a double in 2020. Much to the dismay of his jockey room colleagues, that memorable meeting was the last time he participated in the event that has ascended to become the pinnacle of the Victoria Racing Club's winter racing season.

He was absent for three editions, from 2022 to 2024, due to his humanitarian commitments in Ukraine. This followed his standing down from the 2021 meeting owing to an accidental Covid protocol infringement.

That year, Williams returned from Brisbane merely three days before sections of Queensland were designated a Covid red zone. The ruling was applied retrospectively to days when Williams was still in the Sunshine State, meaning he was unable to compete.

Williams has only himself to fault for missing last year's event, as his attention was elsewhere and not on Flemington while the Finals Day races were being contested.

'I was suspended last year, so I went and did some (ten pin) bowling,' he revealed.

This is characteristic behaviour for Williams when compelled to miss a significant meeting due to suspension. He was famously at the cinema when the 2011 Melbourne Cup was run, a race for which he was booked to ride the winner, Dunaden.

The 49-year-old's concentration is now fully directed towards this year's Finals Day, as he aims to clinch his 10th Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys' Premiership.

Williams is currently ahead of Jamie Mott by five wins, with eight metropolitan meetings left before the season concludes on July 31.

He has engagements in all nine Flemington races, with seven of his rides featuring prominently in the betting, either as favourites or second favourites.

Al Duca is the $2.90 favourite for the 1600-metre Winter Championship Final, entering the race after a close second to Seafall in The David Bourke at the same track on June 20.

'He's only had one blemish and I think they blamed the track being a bit firm at Bendigo,' Williams commented about the gelding now under the guidance of Clayton Douglas.

'He had a freshen up going into the other day, when he went down fighting.

'He was great, he's tenacious and he's going to take a lot of beating.'

Williams' shortest-priced prospect for the day is in the opening race, the $150,000 Next Generation Sprinters Series Final (1200m), where he partners Stars Of Dom.

This marks his first ride on the Lindsay Park-trained filly by Exceedance, who has secured metropolitan second placings in her two starts to date. Williams was encouraged by feedback from fellow jockey Blake Shinn following trackwork.

'Blake actually worked her on Monday or Tuesday and said that she's going really well,' Williams noted regarding the $2 favourite.

'She's had two starts, really good form references and been beaten by nice horses when she was beaten both times.'

Another of Williams' favoured contenders is Losesomewinmore, whom he will ride again for the first time since partnering the Richard and Chantelle Jolly-trained gelding to victory in July last year.

'He's won five times down the straight, so he's a great straight horse,' Williams stated.

'If he produces the acceleration that he did two starts ago they'll have to beat him and, his run the other day, they felt there were excuses for him the way the track conditions were.'

Marwooba is challenging Star Of Macedon for favouritism in Race 2, Decalogue is the second favourite for Race 4, as is Wuddzz in Race 6 and Lucky Lucky Boom is an equal second elect in the final race.

Miss Aria is positioned on the $5 third line of betting in Race 3, while Blethyn Williams' outsider for the day is a $15 chance in the Creswick Sprint Series Final, the eighth race on the card.

Discover the best racing odds for the Winter Championship Final at your preferred online bookmakers.