2018 yearling sales trotter to debut

Oamaru harness racing trainer Phil Williamson has never trained a trotter that’s debuted as a seven year old. But at Winton on Saturday that will change when Galleons Grandson (Majestic Son) which was the first lot in the Sale of the Stars in Christchurch in 2018, lines up.

Kevin Williams of Master Mood fame and Southland lawyer Cleland Murdoch own the gelding.

“Kevin rang me and said he was going on holiday for three weeks and would I mind taking this horse and giving it three weeks work. He said if I liked him I’d be able to keep him – if not the horse would be retired,” Phil said.

When Williamson picked him up, Williams said he thought he was five.

“We got him down home, started working with him and looked him up. Suddenly he was seven. So within three weeks he went from five to seven (laughter). I think from a yearling to now, he’s had a bit of leisure time.”

Williams who runs Tall Tree Stud in Canterbury with his wife Bonnie, still holds a trainer’s license and his last winner was trotter Aldebaran Heather (Trixton) at Bank Peninsula in April 2022.

“I think their priority was probably the stud side of the business and this horse may have been turned out for a month and it could have turned into three years (laughter).”

Williamson qualified Galleons Grandson at Oamaru in March.

“I expect him to go a good race on Saturday. He goes okay. If he has one issue it’s that he doesn’t corner very well.”

Incidentally, Role Model (No Fission) won six races for Williamson as a pacer before he won on debut as a trotter at six. He went on to win ten races as a squaregaiter and gave Phil his first Group win in the G2 New Zealand Trotting Championship.

“He had thirty odd starts as a pacer though before he raced as a trotter.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink