Cover image courtesy of Western Racepix
The training partnership have no clear idea of what Peters' future plans are in terms of retaining them as trainers of choice beyond the current carnival but are preparing for life after the 'cerise and white', scouting for outside clients to support an attack on the 2022 yearling sales season.
The likelihood of Peters' involvement of the stable diminishing, and perhaps disappearing, has prompted a period of introspection, but has not blunted Grant Williams' ambitions going forward.
Alana and Grant Williams
"Bob is not saying too much and we are not asking either. It's playing itself out, we will do what we will do," Williams told TDN AusNZ when asked about the current state of play.
"Our numbers, if we have any for him, will drop off and we do have to concentrate on training winners and finding more people to come in as owners."
"Our numbers, if we have any for him (Bob Peters), will drop off and we do have to concentrate on training winners and finding more people to come in as owners." - Grant Williams
Just three years after the trio combined for their first elite success with Galaxy Star (Redoute's Choice), Western Empire's successes represented the ninth Peters-owned Group 1 victory for the Williamses.
Since the start of the 2018/19 season, only three stables in Australia have had more Group 1 winners, that being Chris Waller (46), James Cummings (21) and Ciaron Maher and David Eustace (10).
While there are those who would suggest that they have benefitted from being based in a shallower talent pool in Western Australia, with just three Group 1 races in Perth every year, the Williamses' opportunities have been limited. The statistics tell you that those nine Group 1 wins have been achieved from just 31 runners, an amazing strike rate of 29 per cent.
It’s a success rate which is reflected more generally across their runners in that four-year period, where they have prepared 318 winners from 1160 starters, a strike rate of 27.4 per cent, the lion's share of them for Peters.
Bob Peters | Image courtesy of Western Racepix
They have also campaigned horses in the Eastern States with great success, namely Arcadia Queen (Pierro), who won Group 1 races at Caulfield and Flemington, Celebrity Queen (Redoute's Choice), who won a G1 Oakleigh Plate, and Regal Power (Pierro), who won an All-Star Mile. They have also not just sailed on the success on one good horse, with Arcadia Queen the only of their horses to have won multiple Group 1 races.
The new era
Those achievements have not made Grant and Alana complacent as to future success, and the complex relationship with Peters has only made them determined to stay at the top of the game should the association come to an end, as is widely expected, in the next few months.
"We look forward to the new challenges. We are set to get a lot of outside people in, which hasn't been part of our model in the past few years," Grant said.
"We are not really sure what Bob is doing, but we have to worry about what we are doing. He is not saying too much, so we have to get on with it."
Those ambitions aren't just confined to Western Australia, with the move of Lindsey Smith to establish bases on either side of the Nullarbor providing somewhat of an inspiration for their future plans.
"I still have aspirations to have a stable in Melbourne. I think that it is pretty important to get over there at least a couple of times a year. They are goals of ours, but we need to build a client base out of here (Perth) and take the rest as it comes," he said.
"I still have aspirations to have a stable in Melbourne. I think that it is pretty important to get over there at least a couple of times a year." - Grant Williams
"Racing over there (in the Eastern States) is great once you have had a taste of it. You see what Lindsey has done, it’s definitely something that we want to expand on doing."
Gallery: Some of Grant and Alana Williams' Group 1 winners
Planning to invest
Williams is also expecting to be busy through the yearling sales season, looking for recruits to the stable to bolster quality for the coming years.
"In the past I haven't had to do that, but that will be a major focus now. We want to get to the sales, get a new client base and get some good horses around us. It’s pretty exciting," he said.
"We want to get to the sales, get a new client base and get some good horses around us. It’s pretty exciting." - Grant Williams
That will likely mean more time on the road, and if WA borders allow it, in the air for Grant, while Alana holds fort back at their Karnup base. That was something the former star jockey was able to do when Williams was travelling with Peters' horses in recent years.
"She's a huge asset, Alana. She still rides our work and she is that good a judge, she can tell us stuff that you just don't get from other people," Grant said.
"I don’t know how many other trainers ride their own work to the extent that she does and with the success that she has had. We’ve got to build on that."
Their focus for the moment is continuing to do what they do best and that is, train winners, with a treble at Ascot on Saturday. Western Empire was joined by G2 WA Guineas victor Treasured Star (Toronado {Ire}) and the progressive stayer Pure Devotion (So You Think {NZ}) in the winner's circle.
An Empire building
Saturday's 4l win by the prodigiously talented son of former Haunui Farm shuttler Iffraaj (GB) marked the fourth consecutive win in the famous West Australian handicap in the iconic cerise and white as Western Empire joined stablemates Galaxy Star (2018), Regal Power (2019) and Inspirational Girl (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}) (2020) on the honour board. All four of them have been ridden by William Pike.
Western Empire (NZ) wins the G1 Railway S. | Image courtesy of Western Racepix
Grant Williams was very emotional after the victory, with Peters handling much of the media commitments. He said on Sunday that with everything going on, the moment had meant a lot to him and his wife.
"We have won four in a row, and things have been a bit of a struggle the last couple of months. So it’s just bloody good to start the carnival in that way," he said.
"Things have been a bit of a struggle the last couple of months. So it’s just bloody good to start the carnival in that way." - Grant Williams
The pair have worked a lot with the now 4-year-old to help develop his talent and to see that come to the fore in WA's most storied race was a major thrill.
"He's up there with the best of them. To win a Railway like that you have to be pretty good. I would still have Arcadia Queen up there as the best, but his record says that the next 12 months will be really interesting," he said.
"In 12 months' time he will be even better. He still hasn't fully matured yet. He's still pretty big and raw and can put a bit of weight on. There is maturity to come, which is a bit scary."
"He's (Western Empire) still pretty big and raw and can put a bit of weight on. There is maturity to come, which is a bit scary." - Grant Williams
Whether Western Empire will still be in the stable at that point is anybody's guess, but Williams is just glad he got the chance to guide him to such a major success.
"He's a really nice, beautiful horse. It's been a bit of a process to get him there, he's been a bit of a hard head, along the way but he has come around really good and has a beautiful nature," he said.
