1,000 up for Stuart Williams 30 years after his first winner - and even Elvis was there to celebrate

Newmarket trainer Stuart Williams joked it was time to get his finger out for the next 1,000 winners after hitting the milestone 30 years after recording his first.

The 60-year-old trained his first winner in 1994 when Greenback landed a gamble in a median auction maiden at Lingfield and his 1,000th thanks to the Sean Levey-ridden Bonaventure in the closing mile handicap at Windsor on Monday night. 

Williams said: “It’s great to finally get the 1,000 up, but Bonaventure had previously been beaten just a head when second at the same track the Saturday before. Quinault won a Listed race at Chester the following day so it would have been nice to have reached the landmark at Listed level

"It ended up being the last race on the card at Windsor but there was actually a good crowd in and we were serenaded back to the winner's enclosure by an Elvis impersonator.”

Williams, who has been at Diomed Stables for the past 20 years, first started training at Graham Lodge Stables, now the domain of George Margarson, after taking out his licence 1993.

He said: “It’s taken 30 years to get here and now I better get my finger out for the next 1,000. We started with very few horses and it was a struggle at first as all I knew then was horses and nothing about business, which was the tricky part.”

Quinault (left): a winner of eight of his 17 starts for Stuart WilliamsCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

“We actually went from 12 to about 30 horses the season after I started as we were sent horses by the Classic Bloodstock syndicate. They only lasted a year – if that – and took all their horses away so we were back down to having 12 again.

"I’ve been very, very lucky since then in having some wonderfully loyal owners that have been with me from the start and have become lifelong friends. We have a huge amount of help from my mum and late stepfather, David Shekells who started the Old Mill Stud at Chippenham around the time I started training.”

Williams, who began the journey to 2,000 with a winner at Salisbury on Wednesday, is known for his exploits with handicappers and one such example sticks in his mind. He said: “The horse that helped us out in the early days was Concer Un. One of David’s clients was a Welsh hill farmer called Edgar Lloyd who brought this horse to book four at Tattersalls. 

"He was by Lord Bud, who was not a very good jumps stallion and had never sired a winner on the Flat. He led him around the ring himself and couldn’t sell him for £500 so he sent him to me to train.

“He won a hatful of races for us and twice won the Bradford and Bingley at the Ebor meeting, which I think is now the Clipper Logistics Handicap. The second time he broke the track record in 1997 and beat Hawksley Hill, who went on to finish second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile the following year. 

"He was an absolute champion and for a small stable like us to get a horse like that early on was massive. It gave me confidence that I could do it as you never know until it happens.”

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