Gary Stephen Williams made a good start to his career over jumps with six victories as an amateur, then 11 wins in his first season as a professional. He added another three in 1985/86, making 20 in all.
His first success was at Stratford on September 3, 1983, when String, trained by Rod Juckes, led after the last flight and beat General Patterns by two lengths to take the Black Prince Selling Handicap Hurdle. He won again on the six-year-old at Newton Abbot the following month. Before the season ended he also won two races on both Lady Tut and Cross Master.
Both those horses were trained by Tom Bill, for whom Gary turned conditional at the start of the 1984/85 campaign. All six of his wins as an amateur had been against professional jockeys and it did not take him long to register his first success in the paid ranks. At Huntingdon on August 27, Money For Jam led from the eighth fence and came home six lengths clear in the Hemingford Handicap Chase. He had around 120 rides that season and scored on 11 of them.
His total dropped after that, and he had a final success when Swift Messenger, trained by Dai Williams, proved far too good for a dozen rivals in the Bromley Arms Novices’ Chase (Division 2) at Southwell on April 10, 1986, coming home 30 lengths clear. It was the second time Gary had won on the seven-year-old but they fell on their next outing.
He rode on for at least two more seasons but there were no more wins, his career hindered perhaps by no longer being able to claim an allowance due to reaching the age of 25.
Gary Williams’ winners were, in chronological order:
1. String, Stratford-on-Avon, September 3, 1983
2. String, Newton Abbot, October 11, 1983
3. Lady Tut, Sedgefield, February 14, 1984
4. Lady Tut, Southwell, February 16, 1984
5. Cross Master, Uttoxeter, April 23, 1984
6. Cross Master, Uttoxeter, May 17, 1984
7. Money For Jam, Huntingdon, August 27, 1984
8. King Bing, Hereford, September 1, 1984
9. Royal Reprieve, Market Rasen, September 29, 1984
10. Porto Louise, Southwell, November 1, 1984
11. Northern Bay, Leicester, November 19, 1984
12. Shepherd’s Hymn, Leicester, November 30, 1984
13. Ballycrackers, Southwell, April 4, 1985
14. Shepherd’s Hymn, Wolverhampton, May 1, 1985
15. Petrocelli, Hereford, May 2, 1985
16. Rachel’s Delight, Stratford-on-Avon, May 10, 1985
17. Porto Louise, Hereford, May 11, 1985
18. Dunstall, Wolverhampton, March 14, 1986
19. Swift Messenger, Southwell, March 29, 1986
20. Swift Messenger, Southwell, April 10, 1986