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Williams - The Liam Howley Era

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Shawy38 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 08 Feb 2021 at 1:20pm
Also not sure if mentioned previously but did read that Homesman is back in work with A&S Freedman.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shawy38 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Feb 2021 at 1:19pm
Symon Wilde has nominated Nelson for the 2500m Torney Night Cup at MV on Friday
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Foxseal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Feb 2021 at 11:51am
I’d wondered what ever happened to Liam Howley.

Noticed he’s now training at Kyneton & has a runner at Wodonga today, a 3yo filly called Amy’s Pride.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Magnolian Khan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 2020 at 1:40pm
Thanks SC
Been absolutely flat out running the farm, it’s good to finally get a day off so I can watch the races for once
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Second Chance Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 2020 at 1:21pm
You've had a good spell too MK.  Good to see you back.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Magnolian Khan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 2020 at 1:19pm
King of Leogrance second up win at 2600m for OBrien
Goes to Adelaide Cup next week
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Straight arrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2019 at 9:40pm
Very graceful excit
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shawy38 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2019 at 9:34pm
This is from racenet


NIck Williams said no decision has been made on the future of Macedon Lodge’s head trainer Liam Howley.

Howley is under contract to the Macedon Lodge operation until July next year.

"We'll see what Liam wants to do," Williams said.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bonjour Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2019 at 8:50pm
Never once did God or Jesus mention Liam, Did he thank him? I hope if he arrives at the Pearly Gates they will remark on manners and humanity before allowing entry.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lord Hybrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2019 at 3:02pm
Danny O’Brien & Anthony Freedman are good choices.

Anyone know if Liam Howley has obtained alternative employment anywhere ?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Straight arrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2019 at 1:05pm
Lloyd likes the private school education
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Carioca Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2019 at 11:15am
Expect to see some form turnarounds without a shadow of doubt.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shawy38 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2019 at 10:39am
Lloyd Williams has turned to two of Victoria’s most successful trainers in recent times to prepare his Australian-based horses with confirmation that future Williams’ runners will be under the care of Danny O’Brien and Anthony Freedman.
The six-time Melbourne Cup winning owner announced last month that he is to sell Macedon Lodge and that the Irish stable of Joseph O’Brien would be his main launch-base for future Melbourne Cup attempts.
But his son Nick told RSN927’s Racing Pulse on Tuesday morning that a number of the stable’s horses are remaining in the country and need new homes.
Just last month, O’Brien joined the Melbourne Cup winner’s club when he trained Vow And Declare to victory and Freedman was part of the Freedman Brothers Incorporated when older brother Lee trained Tawrrific (1989), Subzero (1992) and Doriemus (1995) to Cup victory.
He was also a driving force behind the family’s Markdel property in Rye where Makybe Diva was trained to win her last two Melbourne Cups in 2004 and 2005.
Among their successes this year, O’Brien and Freedman took both the spring staying classics with Miami Bound winning the Kennedy Oaks for O’Brien and Warning taking the Victoria Derby for Freedman.
Williams said the facilities both trainers offered was instrumental in the decision with O’Brien’s Flemington stables complimented by his 13th Beach property at Barwon Heads with Freedman also boasting a Flemington base on top of his stables at the lavish Pinecliff training centre at Mt Eliza.
"It’s horses for courses really," Williams said.
"Danny has obviously got that wonderful beach property at Thirteenth Beach and we think some of the staying horses will really suit that programs and will go to Anthony that will suit him.
"We sent the first lot back in work down to Anthony last week – it’s only three or four horses – but there will be more to follow and some others, including Homesman, going to Anthony next week.

"We’re splitting them up to where we think they will suit best.
"Danny O’Brien will soon get a handful of talented stayers to train. He’s got King Of Leogrance, Venice Beach and Nelson – they are horses that we have a lot of time for - and some others will be following down there.
"We’ve still got Macedon Lodge. They are still spelling up there and doing a little bit of pre-training and once it gets time to go to a trainer, we’ll work out which trainer to send them to.
"The only thing that is really changing with our operation is that we’re not training them at Macedon Lodge ourselves and really, that’s come about for two reasons.
"I’ve got no doubt Macedon Lodge has a huge edge as a training property but we don’t have enough horses to fully utilise the property and dad’s coming up to 80 and he liked to be overseeing it all but he’s got to an age where it doesn’t really suit him very much anymore."
Williams said the family could be buyers again on the Australian market into the future.
"We would love to exclusively be buying horses in Australia and New Zealand if the breeders were breeding horses that were suitable," he said.
"I think it’s terrific that Danny won the Cup this year with a locally-bred horse but at this point I’d be saying the local horses, you need to be freak to be competitive over the middle distance and staying trips. You do get the odd freak, but you have to be lucky
"The tide is turning with the breeding of stayers in this country and I am hoping over the next three to five years we see something like what we used to see in New Zealand were you could go over and buy with confidence.
"You knew what you were getting and you had a fair chance of getting a good horse. You haven’t got that yet here but as soon as we do, we’ll be back buying with a vengeance."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Carioca Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2019 at 7:06pm
Now is the time for Lloyd to sit back and be an Owner not an Owner/ Trainer, I'm sure he has plenty of other things to keep his mind and body active, a change is as good as a holiday , well so They say.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2019 at 3:28pm

YOU BREED â€EM, WE’LL BUY â€EM

November 26, 2019 9:35 am

Lloyd Williams and partners have set Australian breeders a challenge – create some decent stayers and we will start spending.

Nick Williams confirmed this morning that the ownership group, which included himself, his father Lloyd and a handful of close associates, would race a group of up to 35 horses locally and have them prepared by a handful of Victorian trainers.

Those trainers will be identified in a couple of weeks, Williams said. “We have some ideas. But we also have partners and they will have their own views,” he said.

While the top end of the group’s ownership will be Melbourne Cup raiders bred and trained in Europe by the likes of Aidan and Joseph O’Brien, Williams said a similar number would be prepared here.

Whether they are bred and reared here is up to local breeders, Williams said.

In recent years the Williams army has been a foreign legion. Very few have been Australasian-bred since the long past era of Efficient and Reset, both sons of Kiwi-based stud legend Zabeel.

“We would love to (buy locally), like we used to back with the New Zealand horses, the Zabeel’s,” he said.

“But we won’t until we are confident we can buy a locally-bred horse capable of winning the races we are interested in like the Melbourne Cup. We’re not particularly interested in the Golden Slippers. The James Harron’s seem pretty good at winning those races, we might leave that to them.”

Williams described locally-bred Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare as a “freak” who didn’t represent the overall depth of staying stock in Australasia.

“But things are picking up and that’s something we are encouraged by,” he said.

Williams said none of the group’s Australian squad of horses would be trained outside Victoria.

He said the stable’s annual cull would occur again “and not necessarily on a bigger scale because we’re selling the farm.”

Williams said his on-going horse interests “would be basically the same, it’s just we won’t have our own training farm.”

He said there was currently about 45 racing stock at Macedon Lodge, a lavish training farm on which Lloyd Williams spent about $35 million in refurbishments.

BY: Matt Stewart RSN Racing Editor

reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Afros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2019 at 8:08am
I wonder if Chris Waller would consider buying the property as a private training complex?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkyDancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2019 at 8:01am
A fair few have been sold.
Only 5 horses in work at the moment
Some will be dispersed amongst local stables with Lloyd still in the ownership
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lord Hybrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2019 at 6:54am
So are all the horses trained locally being sold? Or are they’d just transferring them to other trainers ?

I’ve read that Yucatan is returning to Joseph O’Brien in Ireland, but what about the likes of Homesman, Jo Vermeer & King of Leogrance?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Glencoe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 11:29pm
Yulong will pay for it with all their race winningsLOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Afros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 9:41pm
Originally posted by Gee Gee Gee Gee wrote:

No succession plan in place?

Son Shane Warne not good enough?


Lloyd says he's to old to run it properly, Nick says he is to busy in other area's of their buisness to have the time to run it, local horses will be dispersed around trainers within Victoria.

Nick also says they've put $30 million into the place but accept that they will only get what the market says the property is worth.

Almost sounds like they're cutting their losses?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkyDancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 6:23pm
Another property for Yulong?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gee Gee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 5:06pm
No succession plan in place?

Son Shane Warne not good enough?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Second Chance Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 4:47pm
Macedon Lodge could be racing's greatest White Elephant.

Unless some very well-backed trainer can stump up more than the odd million to train horses in the coldest place in Vic.

Any possible suggestions?


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Afros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 4:35pm
Here's your chance to become a trainer djebel just gotta buy Macedon Lodge and you're away.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 3:37pm
Thanking you.
reductio ad absurdum
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 12:25pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 12:25pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 12:17pm
I dare say I have asked this before and I apologise if it is already in one of the previous 10 pages however could somebody post a google earth photo of Macedon Lodge please ? 

No I am not thinking of buying. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkyDancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 12:12pm
Racing.com confirms Macedon Lodge closure in December



Lloyd Williams’ future Melbourne Cup attempts will be solely launched from Ireland with confirmation he is set to leave his Macedon Lodge property.

A six-time Melbourne Cup winner, Williams will concentrate on European-bred horses placed with Irish-based trainer Joseph O'Brien, son of champion trainer Aidan.

"Macedon (Lodge) will close for me next month," Williams informed racing.com via text.

"Over the last 18 months I have found it impossible to supervise Macedon Lodge. Over the previous decades I lived there and supervised everything. But (its) more difficult in your 80th - age slows you down.

"Racing continues for us (with) many many horses in Ireland. We will be back with Frankie Dettori to try to win the (Melbourne) Cup in 2020."

No buyer has been confirmed for the property, which has yielded four Melbourne Cup winners over the past decade.

Rumours about the future of Macedon Lodge have persisted for months which has been fuelled by an unsuccessful past 12 months by lofty past standards.

Williams' Australian private trainer Liam Howley has prepared six winners – two at stakes level – and 18 placegetters from 84 starters during 2019.

The last Group 1 winner from Macedon Lodge was Homesman in the G1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) in September 2018

Williams had three 2019 Melbourne Cup starters (Master of Reality, Twilight Payment and Latrobe) with the trio all trained by Joseph O'Brien who also provided Williams with his sixth Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling in 2017.

Williams’ son Nick denied Macedon Lodge would be sold in August on RSN927 in response to the rumours about the future of the operation.

“We’re obviously businessmen first and foremost but we love Macedon Lodge,” he said.

“It’s a wonderful place. If a sheikh or someone came knocking on the door and offered us a massive price, then of course we’d consider it.

“It’s a superior training place and we’re not inclined to give away that edge."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkyDancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 10:13am
Six-time Melbourne Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams could be closing his Macedon Lodge training centre.

Reports have emerged stating Williams will have all his horses trained by Joseph O’Brien in Ireland.

O’Brien trained Rekindling to win the 2017 Melbourne Cup and went close to a second win in the great race with Master Of Reality earlier this month.

Having his horses solely trained in Ireland would make sense for Williams because of the many opportunities to qualify horses for the Melbourne Cup in Europe.

Macedon Lodge produced the Melbourne Cup winners Efficient (2007), Green Moon (2012) and Almandin (2016) but the local arm of the Williams operation did not have a runner in the race this year.

Numbers have declined at Macedon Lodge in recent times with only five horses believed to be in work at the multi-million-dollar property.

It is understood Herbert Power Stakes winner Yucatan will head back to O’Brien’s stable in Ireland to continue his career.

The move leaves the young retained trainer Liam Howley’s future unclear.

Howley could begin the tough task of establishing himself as a public trainer or moving to another role in the industry.

Howley’s predecessor Robert Hickmott has successfully operated a stable at Caulfield since his split from the Williams camp in 2017
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