Magnificent Storm
STAR pacer Magnificent Storm and his trainer Ray Williams will head to Gloucester Park on Friday night, having freshened up after a break.
Magnificent Storm hasn't raced since his frustrating three-race Brisbane winter raid finished with a seventh in the Group 1 Blacks A Fake at Albion Park on July 22.
And Williams is just back from a short holiday at his favourite spot in Bali.
Now it's back to work for them both.
Williams insists Magnificent Storm has taken no harm from all the travel and his three runs at Albion Park during winter.
"No, he seems great," he said. "He had a week spelling at Luke McCarthy's place just outside Brisbane and then another week at Luke's place near Menangle before he returned home."
"Then he had another week or so at Robbi's (Tomlinson, owner) place before he returned to me, and I started galloping him up again."
"When they moved the WA Cup forward, we weren't sure we'd run him in it, but it's come together well."
When Williams went to Bali recently, he enlisted Dylan Egerton-Green's help to keep Magnificent Storm on target for his return.
"That worked well, actually," he said. "Dylan took him to Pinjarra to work, and Ryan Warwick drove a galloper with them to make sure he had a good workout."
"Dylan was very happy. He said they'd don't work much better than he did, and we knew we still had some time up our sleeve to get him as well as we can for the Cup."
Magnificent Storm jumps straight into feature racing for his return in Friday night's $100,000 Group 1 J P Stratton Cup (2130m) on Friday night.
"He's really well, and I'm expecting a bold showing, but the run will bring him on for the Cup and give me a great guide on what I need to do with him in the two weeks before the Cup," Williams said.
It will be Magnificent Storm's third crack at the $450,000 Tabtouch WA Pacing Cup when he lines up on November 10.
And Williams believes this is the best he's had his stable star for the state's biggest race.
"Both the WA and Fremantle Cups have been frustrating for us because we feel we've never had him right where we want him for them so far," he said.
"It's certainly a different lead-in this year, but the horse himself seems really well."
"And nothing has really emerged since he was last racing here. He will largely race the same some of horses he was earlier this year."
Williams is also excited about the next month or so with his other stable star, classy mare Cyclone Charlotte.
"There's not much of her, but she's a really tough little mare and not only do I think she can measure up against the best mares, I think she'll go OK against the boys in time, too," he said.
"There's some lovely mares' races for here over the next month or so."
"Wonderful To Fly is obviously the benchmark mare, but I'm not afraid of her."
Cyclone Charlotte will tackle races like the $100,000 Group 2 Norms Daughter Classic (2130m) at Gloucester Park on WA Pacing Cup night and the $150,000 Group 1 Mares' Classic (2536m) on November 24.
