Garry Williams

Article by Chris Pitt

National Hunt jockey Edward Gareth Williams – usually known as Garry – was born in Anglesey in 1942. He was attached to Sid Dale’s Epsom stable and had been there for three years before riding his first winner, on four-year-old hurdler Repertoire at Plumpton on Easter Monday, March 30, 1964. Seven days later they followed up by winning at Wye.

His next winner was on handicap hurdler Kathiawar at Fontwell Park on August 23, 1965, beginning a spell that saw him ride four more within the space of three months. He won again on Kathiawar and also won twice another handicap hurdler, the always blinkered Montecatini, although it could be argued that the latter probably ran his best race in defeat, when finishing second, beaten a head, to the Queen Mother’s high-class hurdler Makaldar at Folkestone on October 18, 1965.

However, far from those five winners being a springboard for a successful career, he then endured a two-year wait before Sid Dale’s selling hurdler Austerity ended the barren spell at Windsor in November 1967. Two more winners followed that term, including his first over fences on Dale’s maiden chaser Cressandra at Towcester on Easter Monday.

Garry’s last winner came on a horse named Sheba, trained by Jim Wibberley at Childrey, Berkshire, in a five-runner selling hurdle at Devon & Exeter on August 22, 1968. He relinquished his licence at the end of that season.

Garry Williams’ winners were, in chronological order:

1. Repertoire, Plumpton, March 30, 1964

2. Repertoire, Wye, April 6, 1964

3. Kathiawar, Fontwell Park, August 23, 1965

4. Kathiawar, Folkestone, September 27, 1965

5. Repertoire, Worcester, October 6, 1965

6. Montecatini, Wincanton, October 28, 1965

7. Montecatini, Folkestone, November 22, 1965

8. Austerity, Windsor, November 15, 1967

9. Cressandra, Towcester, April 16, 1968

10. Winged Steel, Plumpton, May 1, 1968

11. Sheba, Devon & Exeter, August 22, 1968