Williams on Ayr weather watch for Five Star Getaway

David Clough
April 12, 2021 3:57 pm

Novice could bid for fourth successive win on Sunday.

Christian Williams is all set to head to Ayr with the fast-improving Five Star Getaway – as long as there is some cut in the ground at the weekend.

The Glamorgan trainer has given Five Star Getaway two options on Sunday, including the Grade Two Jordan Electrics Ltd Future Champion Novices’ Chase.

But the former point-to-pointer is more likely to go up in trip to three miles for the first time under rules in the CPMS Novices’ Champion Handicap Chase as he bids to extend his winning sequence over fences to four.

Five Star Getaway is a rapidly improving novice chaser (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

Five Star Getaway has improved more than 40lb in the space of a month as two-and-a-half-mile victories at Wincanton, Sandown and Haydock have put him on the verge of graded class.

Williams said: “We thought we’d just put him in the Grade Two as an option – but the main aim will be the novice handicap, if we have a drop of rain.

“The ground would need to be as it is now, or a little bit easier, for the owner to decide to run.”

Whatever the immediate future holds for Five Star Getaway, Williams already has high hopes the lightly-raced seven-year-old can progress further next season.

“We’re hoping he’s going to be a staying chaser for next season,” he said.

“It’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t have another run this year. But he’s in good form, and if the ground is right, it’s good prize money and we’ll try to support the meeting with a nice horse if we can.

“He’s had plenty of runs in the space of four or five weeks, but he seems in great form at home and carries his condition well.

“He’s a horse we get excited about every time we run him.

“He’s just a very good physical specimen, as well as being a good racehorse – so we’re hoping he’ll keep progressing, and we’ll be excited going into next season as well.”