Williams set to call time on riding career

After three decades in the saddle, Kylie Williams is preparing to bring the curtain down on her riding career, with the veteran jockey set to have her final rides at Riccarton later this month.

The 46-year-old has five rides at Oamaru on Friday, where a race has been named in her honour, before she closes out her career at Riccarton on August 29.

“I have two more meetings planned. One at Oamaru on Friday and then I will finish up at the Riccarton meeting on August 29,” Williams said.

“I had my first ride at Riccarton on New Zealand Cup Day thirty years ago. So, I thought it would be fitting to have my last ride at Riccarton.”

Williams has ridden 1019 domestic winners during a career that began in the 1996-97 season and continued through the birth of her three children.

Her path into racing came almost by accident after she spotted an advertisement in The Press seeking prospective apprentice jockeys.

“I never really had a lot to do with horses,” Williams said.

“I wanted to leave school and Dad wouldn’t let me unless I had a job. There was an advertisement in The Press that said ‘are you over 16, under 50kg and want to become an apprentice jockey?’ I was too scared, so my friend rang up and applied for me.”

Williams subsequently completed a three-month course in Otaki before being assigned to trainer Tania Forde at Dunsandel.

She has recorded 32 Group or Listed victories and celebrated a significant milestone at her home track last September when Riviera Rebel carried her to her 1000th domestic victory in the North Canterbury Cup (2000m) at Riccarton.

With retirement on the horizon, Williams had one remaining item on her bucket list, to ride against her son, Logan Bates.

That wish was fulfilled during New Zealand Cup Week last November when Bates returned from Victoria to compete against his mother at Riccarton. Both rode winners on the opening day, with Bates posting a double that included a Listed victory.

The 24-year-old has continued his rapid rise, returning to New Zealand earlier this year to record his first Group One victory aboard Jigsaw in the Gr.1 Railway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie, while he was recently named the Victorian Jockeys’ Association Rising Star for the second time.

Having achieved her goal of riding against her son, Williams is now ready to step away from race riding on her own terms.

“I have been slowing down a bit, I haven’t been riding as much,” she said.

“It has come to the point now where it’s time to hang up the boots and look after the younger ones.”

Williams will remain closely involved in racing, taking over from Jason Laking as New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s South Island apprentice mentor, with Laking moving to the Waikato to begin training as a stipendiary steward.

Williams believes her own experiences as a young rider will serve her well as she moves into mentoring the next generation.

“I wasn’t a model student, so I know all the ins and outs. How to get away with things and how not to get away with things,” she said.

“I am looking forward to looking after them. I did a stint a while ago at the apprentice school and really enjoyed it.

“There are a nice bunch of apprentices out there at the moment. I am really looking forward to refining and polishing them, then turning them into the finished product.”