Williams to bow out at Riccarton
Kylie Williams has been a staple of New Zealand’s jockey ranks for three decades, but at Riccarton on Saturday she will don silks for the last time.
It will be a full-circle moment for Williams, who had her first ride at the track on its biggest day as a fresh-faced 16-year-old.
“I had my first ride there on (New Zealand) Cup Day in 1996,” she said. “It is not my favourite track, but my family are all going to be there, and it will be quite nice to finish it (riding career) up at Riccarton.”
Williams has enjoyed a decorated career in the saddle, which currently stands at 1,019 wins, with the Cantabrian having reached her 1,000th win in September last year at Riccarton.
Williams has 32 stakes wins to her credit but said riding a maiden for close friends has meant just as much to her.
“In the end, it all comes down to those special moments,” she said. “It didn’t matter what the horse or race was, it was the people or the story behind it that means more.”
One of those special moments was when Williams rode against her son, leading Victorian apprentice Logan Bates, on the opening day of New Zealand Cup Week last year.
“He was never going to be a jockey, he was in the greyhounds and trotting, and then he decided when he was 20 that he wanted to do it,” Williams said. “I never encouraged it, but he is flying and I am very proud. It was pretty cool to ride against him.
“I ended up giving him one of my rides (Enterprise for trainer Lyn Prendergast). He grew up with Tony and Lyn, they used to babysit him, and now Tony isn’t here, so it was so cool for him to ride one for them and win on it.
“Riding against him was just like riding in any other race but when I went past him, I was like ‘haha, got ya’.”
Williams was also able to be trackside to watch Bates win his first Group One race aboard Jigsaw in the Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie on Champions Day.
“It was amazing,” she said. “You dream of riding a Group One winner, and to do it so early in his career was great. Jamie (Bates, Logan’s father) and I were both there, and Bruce (Sharrock, partner) was there as well, and we had a great night.”
Williams said watching her son’s success in the saddle on both sides of the Tasman has been one of the joys of her life.
“We all know how hard it is in Melbourne, you have got the best of the best there,” she said. “For him to win the Rising Star Award, which I don’t think has been done two years in a row before, and is voted by the senior jockeys, you are obviously doing things right. We might have raised him right.”
After securing her 1,000th win last season, Williams began to wind down her commitments in the saddle, and when she was offered the position of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s South Island Riding Mentor earlier this year, she felt it was the opportune time to transition her career.
Williams will start her new job on Monday, and while looking forward to the challenge, she has her eyes wide open heading into the role.
“I think it will be harder trying to teach them than riding my own race,” she said. “It will be another learning curve. It will definitely make me proud when I see them out there accomplishing things.”
Williams has mixed feelings heading into her final meeting.
“I don’t really know what to think, it just seems like another day, but at the end of it I won’t be doing it again,” she said.
“I think it would have been different if I was just finishing and getting out of the game, but because now I am taking over the apprentices, I am still going to be involved.”
Williams will have seven rides on Saturday, and it would be fitting if she could win the Celebrating Kylie Williams (1800m) aboard the Shankar Muniandy-trained What She Wants.
“I think the one of Shankar’s, What She Wants, will be a pretty good winning chance,” Williams said. “She has gone a couple of nice seconds. The track is wet, and stepping up to 1800m is going to be right up her alley. I think she is probably my best chance.”
