The passion onher managing owner John Williams, who heads up Gjeloshi Racing, has for the country of his birth is written in the colours his star mare carries on her back.
Adorned with the Albanian Eagle and red colours of the Albanian flag and name which leaves no doubts as to the cultural background of her owners, she has become somewhat of a beacon for the local community.
"Albania has a very big community, people from Albania, people from Kosovo, people from Montenegro and people from Macedonia. There are so many people and no-one is really in the racing industry, except for me," Williams told TDN AusNZ.
"But for whatever reason now, whenever Miss Albania runs, they all seem to put their money on her!
"It’s good to do something for the people from my country too. Australia has such a big racing industry and we don't have any professional racing in Albania. It's good for the community to get them involved here with the racing."
Williams' passion for horses extends back to his homeland and has evolved in recent years to the point he races nine in total, most carrying through their names some link to Albania.
"I always used to go to Caulfield and watch the races. All the time I had the passion for racing but I didn't have the money to race horses." - John Williams
"I always used to go to Caulfield and watch the races. All the time I had the passion for racing but I didn't have the money to race horses.
"Back in Albania, we used to always have competition with the horses. I've also been involved with sports all through my life. I've done wrestling back in Albania and here and then I was very involved with soccer," he said.
"I met a trainer called Paul Koumis in Geelong when I was working with him and that's how I got involved."
Enver Jusufovic | Image courtesy of Enver Jusufovic Racing
Around four years ago, Williams met Enver Jusufovic, another man who charted an unlikely path to the racing industry. EJ, as he is almost universally known, went from being an Australian representative volleyball player, to driving a pie delivery van before a chance encounter with trainer Mick Bell saw him pursue a dream to become a trainer himself. On Friday, the Cranbourne-based horseman saddles up just his second Group 1 runner.
Searching for a star
Williams and Jusufovic immediately struck up a good relationship and they went to the 2018 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale looking for a horse together.
A Magnus filly from the Sun Stud draft caught their eye. She was out of a city-winning More Than Ready (USA) mare, Little Artist, who had already produced a couple of winners.
Miss Albania pictured as a yearling
Little Artist was in turn out of Listed winner Regal Touch (NZ) (Touching Wood {USA}) and was a half-sister to a Listed winner in Apprehend (Hold That Tiger {USA}), so there was some upside there in the pedigree.
The challenge was that they weren't the only one the Magnus filly had appealed to.
"There were a few other people on her, other trainers, like David Hayes. We thought we might pay maybe $60,000 and we ended up going to $125,000 for her," Williams said.
"We thought we might pay maybe $60,000 and we ended up going to $125,000 for her (Miss Albania)." - John Williams
"I said to EJ, 'Do you like the horse?' and he said, 'Yes, sir' and so I said to him, 'Let’s go all the way to get her'. It was hard at the time, because I wasn't sure we had the money to get her."
Repaying the faith
The leap of faith Williams and the Gjeloshi family took with her has quickly been repaid, with Miss Albania a winner of four of her eight starts and nearly $240,000 in prizemoney.
In her short career to date, she has built a reputation as a super-fast front-running mare, winning races at Moonee Valley, Caulfield and Flemington over the past nine months.
"EJ all the time had an opinion that she was a good horse. I just had confidence in what he said, because he is a very, very good trainer and he knows how to prepare the horse," Williams said.
While things didn't quite work out as planned in her stakes debut in the Listed Norman Carlyon S. last time out, where she finished third, her connections aren't afraid to put her in the deep end in what looks a particularly strong renewal of the Moir S.
"EJ (Enver Jusufovic) all the time had an opinion that she (Miss Albania) was a good horse. I just had confidence in what he said, because he is a very, very good trainer and he knows how to prepare the horse." - John Williams
"She tackled the stakes race last time and she was slow out at the start and so we didn't really get to see how good she is. So we decided to target this race as a Group 1 race, to see what she has got," Williams said.
"She races well at Moonee Valley and she has that speed."
Miss Albania has proven a game changer for the Gjeloshi Racing team, with Williams very keen to enter new territory again with her after her racing career is done with.
Miss Albania pictured as a foal
"It depends on what she can do on the track, but I would love to breed with her. If she can get a bit higher in value, I might consider selling her, but for now, I would love to breed with her myself," he said.
