Gayna Williams was quietly chuffed late last year when asked to take over the training of Overlord from the Chris Waller stable. After consultation with the leading trainer, owners Geoff and Mary Grimish decided to place the Sebring gelding with a well credentialled country trainer who was prepared to travel to the city when the right races presented. Overlord’s sixteen starts for the Waller yard had yielded two wins and five placings. One of those placings was a third to Holyfield in a Gr 3 at Rosehill, albeit just on three years ago. His wins in a Gosford maiden and a midweek BM72 at Warwick Farm were recorded on heavy tracks which were wreaking havoc with Sydney racing at the time.
Following a spell Overlord won a Bathurst barrier trial in February of this year, but a couple of niggling issues delayed his first campaign for the new stable. It was April 10th when he debuted for Gayna finishing right on the heels of the placegetters in a Warwick Farm BM72. He finished in a similar spot in four of his next five runs, all on city tracks. “His one disappointing run was in a TAB Highway on a Soft 5 at Randwick when he got on the wrong part of the track,” said Gayna. “His form had been good without winning. It was just a matter of drawing a decent gate and getting the right run for him to win a Saturday race. It all came together at Rosehill.”
Hannah Williams gave Overlord a perfect run to win the TAB Highway from Wizard Of Oz - courtesy Steve Hart Photographics.
Gayna wasn’t completely surprised when the six year old was allotted 61 kgs in the TAB Highway. Barrier one looked good on paper, but the trainer was concerned he might finish up a little bit further back than desired. “A 3kg claim was the obvious way to go and Hannah Williams came immediately to mind,” she said. “Hannah hadn’t had a ride for me previously, but I was well aware of her talents. She rode 32 winners last season and more and more stables are using her services. There’s no better sign than that. I asked her to keep the horse awake in the gates and to make sure not too many horses crossed her in the early stages. I also warned her of Overlord’s aversion to racing in restricted room. She had plenty to think about but covered all bases beautifully.”
Hannah’s ride was picture perfect. By the time they’d gone 200m, she had Overlord balanced up in third spot on the fence behind Wizard of Oz and De Forerunner. She was able to angle off the rail as De Forerunner dropped off slightly at the 300m, putting Overlord into the clear. Wizard Of Oz produced a good “kick” and Overlord needed all of 100m to reel him in, but was emphatic in winning by just under a length from Wizard Of Oz and Melody Again.
Hannah Williams in the winner's circle on Overlord. The 3kg apprentice is attracting the attention of several leading stables - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
A nose away fourth was Overlord’s stablemate Tags whose performance was regarded by some as the run of the race. The six year old has been very competitive in Highway class of late, and has his foot on the till. Tags raced three wide to the turn on Saturday and was pushed even wider as they cornered. He dug deep in the run to the line, missing the place by a whisker. Gayna deflects much of the credit for the current form of Overlord and Tags to her highly valued work rider Amy Spry. “Neither horse is an easy ride on the training track, but Amy gets on famously with both,” said Gayna. “She talks them into doing things her way. I’m lucky to have her.”
Overlord’s owners Geoff and Mary Grimish have been familiar faces in the winner’s circle on Sydney tracks in recent years, and have occupied the same hallowed place on interstate tracks more than once. I’m guessing their all time favourite is Red Tracer who compiled a tremendous record at the top level more than a decade ago. Under the skilful management of the Waller stable, Red Tracer raced 37 times for 15 wins, 14 placings and over $2.3 million. She won two Gr 1’s (Myer Classic and Tatt’s Tiara), four Group 2’s, a Gr 3 and three listed races. Interestingly she won the prestigious Millie Fox Stakes in three consecutive years. Testimony to her unfailing consistency is the fact that all but 5 of her 37 starts were in stakes races.
Gayna with part owner Geoff Grimish after Overlord's TAB Highway win - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Sadly Red Tracer has been dogged by bad luck in the breeding barn. Her first foal, a Medaglia D’Oro colt raced as Dreadnought and failed to win in 14 starts. Her second is Overlord (Dane Shadow) who currently boasts the tidy record of 3 wins and 5 placings for $216,000 while third foal Fearnought has recorded 4 wins and 6 placings for $267,000. Coincidentally Fearnought raced an hour after Overlord’s win on Saturday, finishing fourth in Powerful Peg’s BM78. A range of issues saw Red Tracer “miss” in the following three breeding seasons, but she currently has a yearling filly by Zoustar who will hopefully be the one to follow in the footsteps of her talented dam.
The method by which Geoff Grimish names his racehorses clearly defines his great interest in military history. Himself a Vietnam veteran, Geoff goes to great pains to find names which connect with the theatre of war. Red Tracer’s name is self explanatory. Overlord is named after Operation Overlord, the code name for the historic allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944 when the long campaign began to liberate north western Europe from Nazi occupation. Red Tracer’s full brother was Shellscrape who won a Gr 1 Galaxy, while her half brother Counterattack was placed twice at Gr 1 level.
Overlord's dam Red Tracer scores the first of her three wins in the prestigious Millie Fox Stakes - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Gayna Williams was delighted to present Geoff and Mary Grimish with a metropolitan winner at Rosehill Gardens. As she welcomed Overlord back to the enclosure her mind may well have wandered back to childhood days in Oberon where her fascination with thoroughbreds began. After a stint in local pony club, Gayna transitioned to the show jumping art in her mid teens. With every failed racehorse she got to try in the show ring, her curiosity about racehorse training grew stronger. Before long her bedroom had become a shrine to the Australian racing world of the 1980’s. She adorned the walls with photos of the champions of the day removed from magazines like Turf Monthly and Racetrack.
By 1985 she could resist no longer. Gayna came away from an Inglis Tried Horse Sale with a three year old filly called Scarlet Vixen which had won two moderate races for Taree trainer Ross Stitt. She retrieved her purchase price of $1400 with a bit to spare, when at start number five for her new trainer, Scarlet Vixen easily won an Orange Improvers Hcp with John Bateman aboard. The beginning of Gayna’s training career coincided with her marriage to Frank Williams who remains her greatest supporter. After twenty five years in Bathurst, the couple decided on a change of environment when stables became available at Grafton.
Gayna is firmly established among the top tier of NSW country trainers.
They enjoyed three successful years in Grafton and may well have stayed in the famous racing town had Frank not been tempted by an appealing job offer from Guntawang Stud near Mudgee. He enjoyed seven rewarding years at Guntawang, while his wife churned out a constant flow of winners from the western base. As recently as 2021 the decision was made to return to Bathurst where daughter Lauren was happily ensconced with her new husband. Nowadays Gayna and Frank work a team of twenty horses from a well appointed property directly opposite the Tyer’s Park racecourse. She has declined several opportunities to increase the size of her team, opting to adopt a totally hands on approach.
Gayna doesn’t appear as regularly in town as some of her country counterparts. She prefers to take horses where they’re best placed rather than going through the motions in unsuitable company. From limited opportunities the astute trainer has pinpointed and won five TAB Highways. Overlord was preceded by Zoo Station (two Highways), From the Bush, and I Am A Cool Kid.
Gayna rode the lion’s share of her own stable trackwork for close to thirty years but was grounded by doctors following her first knee replacement in 2017. In January of this year she sustained a fractured hip when bowled over by a spooky horse in her Bathurst stables, but was back on crutches in a supervisory role only a week later. In May she finally agreed to take time off for the inevitable second knee replacement. She followed doctors orders in completing the necessary rehabilitation and is currently “sound”. Gayna rates herself one of the lucky ones to have completed three decades of trackwork involvement with only one debilitating injury - a broken arm sustained when dislodged during a track gallop as far back as 2007. Nowadays she’s content to watch her horses work on the ground, although she admits to still missing the hands-on participation.
Gayna with one of her "go to" jockeys Kath Bell - Pitomac - courtesy Janian McMillan Racing Photography.
Gayna consoles herself with the inescapable fact that Bart Cummings, Tommy Smith, Colin Hayes and many other legends didn’t need to ride work to know how their horses were going. Chris Waller rode some work in NZ early in his career, but abandoned the practice a long time ago. Incidentally it was Chris Waller who recommended Gayna to Geoff and Mary Grimish when the decision was made to transfer Overlord to a suitable country stable. The man’s a good judge of trainers too!
(Banner image - Overlord was in full flight at the finish of Saturday's TAB Highway - courtesy Steve Hart Photographics.)