KINGSTON, Jamaica - Triple Derby-winning groom/trainer Adin Williams has had a long association with horse racing in Jamaica.
In the interview below, Williams shares his achievements and accomplishments in horse racing.
QUICK GALLOP: What is your background information?
WILLIAMS: Well, to begin with, my name is Adin Emanuel Williams. I was born in Green River, Clarendon, just a mile outside of Frankfield, and I went to Frankfield School. I came into racing in 1966. My father took me to Caymanas Park to watch the Jamaica Derby, and later that year, after finishing school, I got into racing by starting at Grange Lane, St Catherine, where trainer Owen Silvera had his stables along with his son Laurie Silvera.
QUICK GALLOP: What did you do at the stables at that time?
WILLIAMS: As a young boy just coming into racing, I went to the fields on a donkey cart with a man who was cutting grass. I endured that situation for three days and did not like what I was doing, so I went back to the stables. While there, I began my apprenticeship by holding the heads of horses for grooms, and I also picked stalls, and sometimes I got to ride the horses.
QUICK GALLOP: How did you become a groom?
WILLIAMS: I was quite fortunate being at Owen Silvera and by doing all the right things around him at the stables. By 1968, I got a groom’s license. The first horse that I groomed and won a race with was Julie Andrews, then ridden by Neville Cousley. Julie Andrews paid the princely sum 27 pounds, 4 shillings and ninepence.
QUICK GALLOP: What year did you get your licence as a trainer?
WILLIAMS: Before reaching that stage of becoming a trainer, as a groom, I won several races with horses such as Guinea Chick, I Own You, Lebanon, Aqueduct, Gulf Stream, and Reality among others. When Mr Silvera (Owen) died, I went to work with Dennis Sasso, and after he migrated, I went to work for Howard McKenzie. I then left Jamaica to go to the USA where I began to work with Jamaican trainer Bobby Hale. While there, I was moulded by Hale along with jockey Michael Lee. During my stay in the US, I also exercised horses. I then stayed in Florida from 1978 to 1982. While there, I won several races as a groom at Hialeah, Gulfstream, and the Calder race tracks. Famous American jockey, Jerry Bailey, was the first jockey who won a race for me while in America at Gulf Stream with a horse by the name of Coco La Tudor.
After returning to Jamaica in 1982, I got a job with the great Philip Feanny, who saw the potential in me, and I became his head groom, his head lad, and then his assistant. Before I became his assistant, I did some solid work with Feanny and the potential was self-evident and, one day he looked at me and said, ‘Dreadie go to the Racing Commission and pick up one of those papers, and I will sign it and let you become my assistant’. As it turned out, I got my trainers’ licence in 1994. I graduated with Richard Azan, Anthony Nunes, Patrick Lynch, and Michael Beecham to name a few.
QUICK GALLOP: Which horse was your first winner as a trainer?
WILLIAMS: Island Prospector. A little filly who looked like a donkey. The owner looked at me afterward and said, ‘if you can win a race with a horse like that, you can win any race’.
QUICK GALLOP: Which is the best horse you’ve trained?
WILLIAMS: Before I reach there, my second year in training, I brought up a horse by the name of Nimrod that I got from Mr Feanny, and he won St Leger. The third-year I trained, I won a race again with a little filly who also looked like a donkey called One Draw, and she beat Lady Geeta with Robertson, and the following year I took a double Derby with Mr Lover Lover. So, I will say that Mr Lover Lover is the best horse that I have trained as I won a Derby in Jamaica and another Derby abroad.
QUICK GALLOP: Which is, be the biggest race that you have I won?
WILLIAMS: The Jamaica Derby. I have won the Derby three times. I won the 1986 Derby as a groom with Princes Consort ridden by Winston Griffiths and trained by Feanny. My other two wins in the Derby came with Mr Lover Lover in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. I am the only trainer who has the distinction of winning the Derby, the same year, and in separate countries so far.
QUICK GALLOP: Which is the best horse that you’ve seen race at Caymanas Park?
WILLIAMS: There were so many great performing horses that I have seen in my time run here it is nigh impossible to single out anyone definitively. However, in sprinting Eros, The Viceroy was a great performer; there was also Royal Dad. Element, an imported racer was singly one of the best performers, as was Temperence Oak.
QUICK GALLOP: What are some of the improvements would you want to see at Caymanas Park?
WILLIAMS: When I came back to Jamaica from my short stay in England, I won my first race with a horse by the name of Speedy Process, and I was interviewed, and I said if Supreme Venture put their money where their mouth is then Jamaica and Caymanas Park will be a treat for horseracing. The only semblance of an improvement that surfaced is that they pay the jockeys and the grooms a little earlier. Separate and apart from that, we want to see some decisive action down here. Fix the place up and give it a first-class appearance to broaden the entertainment spectrum. All it takes is money. Promoters Supreme Ventures have said that millions of dollars are available to spend, so spend some of it for us to see. We are ready to support the venture. The roads are in a deplorable condition, and the dust is going ruing the health of both man and beast. It is shameful around the stable areas. We want it to be healthy and becoming so that families can visit from time to time to be entertained by some of the lovely work of art that we produce.
