BIANCO VILANO BACK INTO THE FINAL
- Ron Stubbs Racing
- Feb 17, 2024
- 2 min read
The Ron Stubbs-trained Bianco Vilano wins Sunday’s SDRA Country Championships Final at Albury to earn another shot at the $1 million final at Randwick.
The Ron Stubbs-trained Bianco Vilano will get another shot at the Country Championships Final after winning the Albury qualifier. Picture: Bradley Photos
Ron Stubbs’ classy galloper Bianco Vilano punched his ticket to Royal Randwick for the second straight year after going back-to-back in the SDRA Country Championships Qualifier at Albury.
The four-year-old son of Foxwedge won the 2023 edition in similar style, coming from back in the field to reel off an impressive win, beating Asgarda and stablemate Baledon.
But he carried 3kg more than what he did in last year and made it a worthwhile trip to Albury for jockey Craig Williams.
It gave Williams a double for the day after riding the Stubbs-trained Sparring to victory in race four.
“I think it’s a great initiative by Racing NSW to adopt this program and I was lucky enough to bring my children up today to experience the day at Albury,” Williams said.
“I love the turnout. The community is engaged and they’re supportive and I’m loving to be apart of it.
“Full credit to my horse, Ron Stubbs and all his people around him.
“It’s great to bring the country to the city and I’m looking forward to doing it with Bianco Vilamo.”
It leaves Bianco Vilano with five weeks between runs until the Final but Stubbs isn’t concerned about the awkward set-up.
“Today was basically the grand final,” Stubbs said.
“You can’t go anywhere unless you get past today so we’ve done that so we’ll give it a few days and see what the best option might be.
“He’s a good clean-winded horse so we wouldn’t have to race him.”
Photo: Bradley Photos