Williams itching for Finals Day return

His lone win in the $200,000 Listed Flemington feature came aboard Magic Consol, which was part of a record haul at the 2018 Flemington Finals Race Day meeting.

It was one of six wins for the day, which is the most by an individual rider at a Melbourne meeting.

Williams beat the record he shared with a number of riders thanks to 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 delight of Williams' jockey room rivals, that matter meeting was the last time he has been a part of the meeting that has risen to become the jewel in the Victoria Racing Club's winter crown.

He missed three, from 2022 to 2024, due to his humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, which followed being stood down from the 2021 meeting due to an inadvertent Covid protocol breach.

That year, Williams returned from Brisbane three days before parts of Queensland were declared a Covid red zone, back-dated to days that Williams was still in the Sunshine State, meaning he was unable to ride.

Williams only has himself to blame for missing last year and his mind was far away from Flemington while the Finals Day features were being decided.

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

That's the way Williams operates when forced to miss a big meeting due to suspension and he was famously at the movies when the 2011 Melbourne Cup was run, in which he was meant to ride winner Dunaden.

The 49-year-old's mind is firmly focussed on Finals Day this year, however, as he strives to put to bed a 10th Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys' Premiership.

Williams leads Jamie Mott by five with eight metro meetings remaining before the season concludes on July 31.

He has rides in all nine races at Flemington, seven of whom are on either the first or second line of betting.

Al Duca is $2.90 favourite for the 1600-metre VRC-CRV Winter Championship Series Final (1600m), heading in off a narrow second to Seafall in The David Bourke (1620m) 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 said of the gelding who is now in the care 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 ride of the day comes up in the first race, the $150,000 Next Generation Sprinters Series Final (1200m), in which he rides Stars Of Dom.

It will be his first ride on the Lindsay Park-trained daughter of Exceedance, who has metro seconds to her name from her only two starts to date, and Williams was buoyed by a trackwork report from fellow rider Blake Shinn.

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

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

Williams' other favourite is Losesomewinmore, who he will reunite with 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 said.

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

Miss Aria on the $5 third line of betting in Race 3, while Blethyn, Williams' roughie for the day, a $15 chance in the Listed A.R. Creswick Stakes (Creswick Sprint Series Final) (1200m) that is Race 8.