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By Ray Hickson

The timing’s right for Group 1 placed galloper Williamsburg to step up in distance and announce himself as a candidate for the $2 million Five Diamonds in the spring as he eyes a breakthrough win at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer Sterling Alexiou (Pic: Grant Guy)

Ellsberg won the inaugural Five Diamonds in 2022 for Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou, and Alexiou said the Listed $200,000 Lord Mayors Cup (2000m) is a good chance to test the waters again with Williamsburg.

The rising five-year-old hasn’t won since October 2022 and had three attempts at 2000m as a three-year-old for a third placing in Lindermann’s Rosehill Guineas and a similar finish in Osipenko’s Frank Packer Plate last year.

He’s been restricted to a mile or below this season and he’s shown he’s knocking on the door with second placings at his past two starts.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been tempted to step him up to 2000m but we thought his form warrants it,’’ Alexiou said.

“We’d like to give him another go and that might decide whether we look at something like the Five Diamonds in the spring.”

Alexiou said his seconds to Magnaspin in the Coast at Newcastle and behind the bold front-runner Iknowastar last week illustrate how well Williamsburg, $6 with TAB on Thursday, is racing of late.

He concedes the barrier draw this week is a potential hurdle but with a drop of 6kg to 54kg they may look to take luck out of the equation.

“He was running well without a lot of luck and sometimes that takes its toll on their confidence,’’ he said.

“He’s probably drawn a bit tricky whereas his last couple he’s had ideal draws and they’ve given him the chance to run his best race.

“It’s not the easiest start for awkward draw but with the light weight if there’s a chance of getting forward and getting a spot we’d probably go that way.

“I think he’s in really good form. Although he’s a lover of a wet track he might have been beaten by better wet tracker on the day in the Coast.

“He bumped into a horse that’s going well the other day in Iknowastar, it was never going to be easy to chase him down so he did well to run second.”

The Five Diamonds is run over 1800m and is restricted, as its name suggests, to five-year-olds.

There’s a sense of confidence from Alexiou that Franz Josef can turn the tables on his first-up conqueror Captain Furai when they clash again in the EGroup Protective Services Handicap (1500m).

The three-year-old, who won his first two starts at 1400m and 1600m, is 2.5kg better off for a 1-3/4 length defeat over 1300m on a heavy track and Alexiou said he’ll appreciate getting out in distance with the run under his belt.

“He was going into that run with improvement to come and while we thought his class would be good enough to get him across the line he might have bumped into a handy one on the day giving it a bit of weight and race fitness,’’ Alexiou said.

Williamsburg runs second at Randwick on May 25

“He’ll jump and be prominent, a dry track would be a big tick for him and the step up in distance will be a big tick. He’ll run really well.”

Sterling Alexiou on Commanding Artist (race 2): “It was a bit of a nothing race first-up. Nash (Rawiller) said he began well and they went quick for about 100m so he elected to ease and as soon as he made that decision the speed came out of the race. If he runs well he’ll head up for the JJ Atkins. I think drawn in four, if we can be positive and put him in the first three or four you’ll see a much improved performance from him.”

On Tsarina Sophia (race 6): “She was super at Canterbury first-up and second-up and we probably tried to stretch her out a bit too far. She bounces on the bunny in her trials and can show good gate speed but on race day she seems to be a different entity. Unless she draws well she struggles to put herself in a spot. She hasn’t won for a while but she’s in really good shape albeit she will improve off whatever she does.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting