Stuart Williams

It's been a while, hasn't it? We can only apologise for the onslaught of the sales and some extra international travel pushing the Seven Days beat on to the back-burner, but we're home now, almost jetlag-free, and ready for this week's round-up. Quite a lot of Sunday mornings are spent trudging along the Devil's Dyke which separates Newmarket's Rowley Mile from the July Course. The dogs love it, but this walker felt a little wearier this past weekend at the thought that we've now switched back to the Rowley Mile...

From being branded a bit of a tearaway, Quinault (Ger) is now simply a runaway winner. In fact, he is the winningmost horse in Britain and Ireland this season, with seven victories from his 10 starts in 2023 for Newmarket trainer Stuart Williams. The Oasis Dream (GB) three-year-old racked up an impressive string of six wins from April 27 to July 13 before finishing third in the Shergar Cup Sprint. Last weekend he returned to Ascot, and to the winner's enclosure, in the hands of Williams's apprentice Luke Catton, who...

We've a while to wait before any firm conclusions can be drawn about this year's crop of first-season stallions, though Darley's Blue Point (Ire) and Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) are pulling ever clearer in what has developed into something of a duel at the half-way stage of the Flat season. In the Coolmore camp, Calyx (GB) was the first to strike with a group winner when Persian Dreamer won Friday's G2 Duchess of Cambridge S.  As an aside, one wonders how much the clamour to run two-year-olds at Royal...

Widely considered as one of the shrewdest trainers in Britain, Stuart Williams discusses the major issues facing middle-to-lower-tier operators as well as his concerns for the wider industry as a whole in this week's Starfield Stud-sponsored Q&A.   Brian Sheerin: The first thing that pops up when you log on to your website is a quote from Timeform, which describes you as, 'A conjurer of a trainer. One who can transform an apparently moderate animal into a frequent winner.' Another compliment that could be paid to you is that few...

If you are a regular viewer of British racing then the chances are you will have seen plenty of interviews last season with jockey Marco Ghiani. He's the one who is always smiling, with the kind of impish face, dimples and all, that could soften even the sternest of stewards. In 2021, he had much to smile about.  With 101 winners under his belt, more than four times as many as his previous seasonal best, Ghiani was crowned champion apprentice at Ascot, receiving his trophy from Lester Piggott on QIPCO...

NEWMARKET, UK--For an auction largely trading in very modest material, the March Sale could hardly have found a more resonant register at Tattersalls on Wednesday. For one thing, the fact that it was staged at all was a tribute to the improvisation and resilience demanded of the bloodstock industry, no less than any other walk of life, over the past year. And two of its three principal dividends, albeit infinitesimal on the scale of the investment they represented, caused those involved to reflect afresh on the recent loss of two...

It has been quite the year for Bated Breath (GB), the Juddmonte stallion who could be all too easily overlooked against some of his more in-vogue stud mates but who nevertheless continues to provide a decent ratio of stakes winners. One of his most reliable performers in this regard is Breathtaking Look (GB), who heads to the Tattersalls December Mare Sale (lot 1662) from Diomed Stables. Her combination of speed, class and consistency gives the 5-year-old a profile with a commercial outlook. Of her six victories for trainer Stuart Williams...