Spotlight On: Jai Williams

By Brodie Nickson

Apprentice jockey Jai Williams has thrived being back in the saddle following an enforced layoff, and the young gun has hit the ground running.

When you speak to Williams, there is one thing that stands out the most; his immense hunger for success.

The 19-year-old apprentice has a burning desire to be the best and it is this attitude that has seen him dominate meetings across Northern New South Wales and South-East Queensland.

Williams recently rode five of seven winners at the Gold Coast Polytrack on September 16, and has shown no signs of slowing.

“After that day at the Gold Coast I was so hellbent on sustaining that form,” Williams said.

“It is so natural for jockeys to have a quiet patch after such a good run, and I wanted to make sure I capitalised off that.”

Williams attracted national racing attention following the memorable day and wasted no time continuing his form.

He booted home four of his next 11 rides between the Gold Coast and Grafton.

It capped off a brilliant few weeks for the apprentice who, in conjunction with his manager Cameron Smith, has been working very hard on and off the track.

“I am very happy with my strike-rate sitting around the 22 per cent and myself and my manager want to keep it there,” Williams said.

“We want to be precise with our rides and keep our strike rate up.”

Riding winners and maintaining the impressive strike-rate has been a major focus for Williams since an enforced layoff.

“I have been back riding for six months after being stood down for a few months,” Williams said.

“It was one of those things that sucked at the time, but it certainly has made me a better and more mature rider.

“I used to just sit down and watch so many races. It gave me butterflies because I missed it so much.”

Despite always wanting to be a jockey and always showing an immense drive for early success, Williams, who now is apprentice to Gold Coast trainer Jay Bellamy, admits the layoff forced him to grow as a person.

“One hundred per cent I came back from the break so hungry,” Williams said.

“I now know what it is like to go without a bit of money for an extended period because I wasn’t allowed on a racetrack and couldn’t work for a few months.

“It just made me want to ride harder, work harder than I had before and it also made me realise how much being a jockey meant to me.

“I just respected what being a jockey means a lot more.”

Williams was born into a racing family and grew up on the Gold Coast. His mother, Jessica, was a foreman for legendary Gold Coast trainer, Bryan Guy.

“When I was 15 I just wanted to jump straight into it and all I wanted to do was ride, ride, ride,” Williams said.

“I was only riding one or two horses a day and Bryan suggested I get in touch with Stephen Lee, who had some cattle and nice horses. I never looked back.”

There is a special tone in the voice of Williams when he begins to speak about the Ballina-based Stephen Lee, who Williams describes as ‘a second dad’.

“I love him like a dad too,” he said.

“He is always there to support me, goes through my replays and helps me out a lot.

“Without his support I definitively wouldn’t have grown as much as I am.”

At just 14 Williams packed his bags and moved to Ballina by himself to work for Lee.

It was this dedication and sacrifice in the drive for success that has formed Williams into the rider he is today.

“(Moving to Ballina) was difficult, but I haven’t looked back,” Williams said.

“I was extremely dedicated from a young age.

“I was 40kg wearing sweat gear running around the racetrack. I wanted to be the lightest and the best.

“All day it was racing, racing, racing. All I did all day was watch live races and racing replays.”

Williams admits he is a ‘student of the game’ and, like any young impressionable athlete, spent hours obsessing over his favourite stars and tried to emulate his heroes.

“I picked out jockeys I wanted to be like and just loved it,” he said.

Melbourne Jockey Premiership winner Blake Shinn was one of these stars Williams idolised, however, it is the under-rated Jason Collett who he especially fixated on.

“I absolutely love his style. The best wet track rider in Australia in my opinion and I just think he is so good,” he said.

“Unfortunately, as I have gotten a bit taller and I have a bit longer legs than them, I’ve had to change my style.”

In addition to replicating and following his favourite jockeys, Williams credits his immense video watching for vastly improving how to read a race.

The apprentice admits he struggled to read a race at the start of his career and although race riding has improved this, it was the months of sideline analysis which ‘drastically improved his race smarts’.

“Before I got stood down I couldn’t ride a staying race because I wasn’t very tactical and I wasn’t very smart,” Williams said.

“I would just jump to the front and hope for the best, but that time off has matured me, I think.

“I get a little vision in my head and I try to play it out in a race.

“I love riding stayers and I think if you can ride a stayer it is good because it often comes down to tactics.”

Williams has already ridden 30 winners this season and is well on the way towards achieving his goal of 80 winners in a season.

“I would love to just ride 80 winners this season. That is a big goal,” he said.

“I know it is a difficult one and will take a lot of work, but I would love to win the provincial premiership, if not the apprentice provincial premiership.”