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Letter to the Industry: Claire Dilger on Behalf of the Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation
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By Chief Stipe · Posted
This is the most comprehensive obituary I have seen for Gary Williams (aka @TAB For Ever) Vale Gary Williams 14 November 2025 , Obituary By Garrick Knight Northern harness racing has lost of one its biggest supporters with the sudden and unexpected passing of Gary Williams. The 72-year-old father of three died while swimming at his local Kohimarama Beach in Central Auckland last Saturday morning. It came as shock to many in the racing industry, including the dozens of people who had their weekly conversation with him at Alexandra Park the night before. Williams was ever present at the Auckland track on Friday nights in his role as a Race Night Steward, one that the genial and personable gentleman was so well suited to. “Gary joined the Auckland Trotting Club in 2013 and was a valuable, engaged and proactive member of the club,” said Club President, Jamie MacKinnon. “More recently, he joined the Race Night Steward team, which looks after the sponsors, winning owners and trainers of each race. “Gary was very good at this with his friendly and interested manner. “Each race night he wandered the course and always had a time for a hello and chat with everyone who crossed his path. “He will be sorely missed by the ATC and all the industry.” Williams was also a member of the Caduceus Club and a former committee member with that group. His biggest contribution to ‘the game’ was no doubt as an owner where he enjoyed considerable success as a syndicate member in both equine codes. In October 2023, he celebrated his 500th winner as an owner and was on course to see his charge, High Step win in Melbourne. At the time, 374 of those winners were in harness racing and many more have been added to that tally in the ensuing two years. Many of those came with involvement in lots of syndications; firstly the now-defunct Auckland Trotting Club Syndicates and more recently, as part of the annual syndicates put together by Breckon Farms to race their retained fillies. “Gary was a member of ten of the ATC Syndicates and had a total of 166 wins, including the Group 1 winners, Changeover, Tintin In America, Matai Mackenzie and Ideal Belle,” said Rob Carr, manager for both syndication groups. “He was also member of 10 Breckon Farms Syndicates and had a total of 130 wins, including the Group 1 winners, Luby Lou, Partyon, Tickle Me Pink, Bettor Twist, A Bettor You and High Energy. “Gary enthusiastically shared his thoughts on his horses’ performances and attended most of their race meetings, travelling throughout New Zealand and Australia. “He will be sadly missed, for his very positive and enthusiastic attitude, his kindness and friendship to all and his contribution to the racing industry.” Changeover gave Williams a cherished win in the biggest race on the calendar – the 2008 New Zealand Cup. “Changeover was one of four horses in a 50-person syndicate, but it was the most profitable of any that I’ve been in,” said Williams in a 2023 story in RaceForm. “He won over $2 Million on the track and when he retired to stud, we collected another $2.5 Million!” Williams’ gallops successes were highlighted by the prodigiously talented Xcellent, whose four Group 1 wins included the New Zealand Derby and Kelt Capital Stakes. But he is best remembered for his 2005 Melbourne Cup placing. Williams also won an Easter Handicap and City of Auckland Cup with Pasta Post and, just this year, a Grand National Steeplechase in Australia with the Mark Walker-trained Leaderboard, who also won a Wellington Cup. Away from horses, Williams lead an interesting and varied life, that started out in Mosgiel, near Dunedin, where he grew up. Many Saturdays were spent at nearby Wingatui racecourse or any other racetracks in the wider region that were running meetings. He was drawn to the industry and was soon helping out at the stables of local trainer Gordon Thomson, who prepared the mighty mare, Show Gait. Eventually, his career took priority and Williams studied accountancy at Otago University. He was a talented sportsman, captaining Otago Boys High School’s First XV Rugby side and he played first class cricket as a wicketkeeper for Otago eight times in the mid-to-late 1970s. Once graduating, he spent seven years in Bermuda, where he met his wife, Canadian-born Roseanne. He even represented Bermuda at the World Table Tennis Championships. After returning to New Zealand in the late 1980s, he and Roseanne settled in Nelson, where they purchased two McDonald’s fast-food franchises and raised three children – Guy, Maria and Paul. “It was 20 years of hard work, but it enabled me to retire earlier than most people,” said Williams in that same RaceForm story. One of the first horses he bought in to was the appropriately named galloper Mac ‘N’ Fries but soon to follow was Xcellent and champion pacer Changeover, among many others. “I only had four percent of Xcellent, but what a time we all had! He won the Derby at just his third start, and the following spring he finished third in the Melbourne Cup. “That day at Flemington, there I was looking for a seat in the stand, and I ended up sitting next to Bart Cummings – you could never buy those sorts of experiences!” Williams spent his retirement in Nelson playing and coaching basketball and table tennis, as well as managing the Nelson Giants basketball team. The Nelson Giants and Table Tennis New Zealand were among the many to post tributes to Williams this week, as well as trainers of both equine codes, too many to mention. The messages bore a common theme – that Williams was a kind, genuine man that had a real affinity for people. Eldest son, well-known comedian Guy, posted a tribute to his father on Thursday and re-enforced what those in the racing industry had come to learn over the past few decades. “Dad was a beautiful man, incredibly kind and friendly. “I reckon his main goal in life was just having a laugh with anyone and everyone. “He was an incredibly patient and gentle father who gave everything his all, he was kind and generous to everyone around him.” Gary and Roseanne moved to Kohimarama just over a decade ago and those lucky enough to have him on Facebook saw regular postings of his regular exploits around his community, including swims, bike rides and walks. It was on one of those daily jaunts, and amongst his good friends - a swimming group known as the High Tide Club - that he met his sudden end. If there is such a thing as divine intervention, two of Williams horses may well salute the judge this weekend. Firstly, at Cambridge on Friday night, Rubble On The Double will shoot for a second straight win for trainers, Dylan and Jo Ferguson. And then on Saturday, at Riccarton, Court Of Appeal will contest the Gr.3 $450,000 New Zealand Cup for trainers, Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson. Williams had plans in place to attend Cup Week in Christchurch. The colours of both horses will bear black armbands in his memory. “Gary loved the industry, and he was everyone’s biggest supporter,” said Jo Ferguson, who would see him every Friday night at Alexandra Park. “He was such a lovely man, and his loss will be widely felt across the industry up here.” -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Fast Market (f, 3, Volatile–Betty Draper, by Street Cry {Ire}) came flying late to win the GIII Pebbles Stakes at Aqueduct Sunday. The bay filly took nine tries to break her maiden over the Aqueduct lawn in September, but came right back to just miss in graded company when runner-up in the Oct. 18 GII Sands Points Stakes. Sent off at 3-2 in the Pebbles, Fast Market settled near the back of a tightly bunched pack as Love You Anyway (Tapit) took the field through moderate fractions. Fast Market bullied her way between rivals while four wide at the top of the lane and was forced to pause briefly as the pacesetter drifted out at midstretch, but once she saw daylight, the favorite closed powerfully to win going away by two lengths. The time for the 1 1/16 miles over the lawn was 1:43.22. Lifetime Record: 11-2-3-1. O-Hit the Bid Racing Stable. B-Breed First LLC (Ky). T-John Terranova. The post Volatile’s Fast Market Makes the Grade in Pebbles appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Can racing withstand the addition of yet another existential threat to the ever-expanding list of practices deemed harmful to our sport's health? Dennis Drazin, the chairman and chief executive officer of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth Park, warned last week that the rising wave of prediction markets should be met with a greater sense of urgency and should be getting more scrutiny from racetrack operators and regulators. “I'm growing more and more concerned about the prediction market companies, such as Kalshi, Polymarket, and others that are now offering bets on sports and, I believe, their intention is to do it on horse racing in the future,” Drazin said during the Nov. 19 New Jersey Racing Commission meeting. Prediction markets are similar to betting exchanges–even though those who operate them tend go to great lengths to get people to believe that users aren't technically “gambling” when they choose a side, stake money, have their proposition matched by an opposing, anonymous user, and then see their accounts either credited or debited based on the outcome of that event. Users trade contracts like they might on a commodities exchange, winning or losing money on the outcomes of games, races, sports league championships, elections and other yes/no types of propositions that they strike directly with other users instead of wagering against the house (like with sportsbooks) or against other bettors (like in a pari-mutuel market). The appeal for prediction market users is lower takeout or vigorish (instead, a small “trading fee” that might be as low as .5 to 2% gets extracted), and, as part of that equation, the prospect of more generous odds and being able to bet against an entity by backing it to lose. But at the same time, under current models, prediction markets aren't operating with explicit permission or broad licensing deals from any United States racing entities, meaning they aren't regulated at the state level (like racing and sports betting) and don't feed back revenue to the Thoroughbred industry to pay for purses. The Betfair exchange has for years accepted trades on American horse racing, and a quick Google search over the weekend for “horse racing prediction markets” turned up a London-based site called Smarkets that was offering buying and selling on every U.S. track running Nov. 22. Both Betfair and Smarkets prohibit U.S.-based users from opening accounts, but both sites (as well as a number of other offshore exchanges) are seeking ways to legally operate in America. “New Jersey has laws on sports betting and on racing,” said Drazin, an attorney who in 2018 successfully represented co-plaintiff New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association in a longshot legal odyssey to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, paving the way for legalized sports betting. “And these companies are operating under the [federal] Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). They're not paying any taxes. There's no integrity regulation. And it's invading sports betting revenue that we currently receive.” As CFTC-licensed entities, sites like Kalshi and Polymarket can offer event contracts in all 50 states. Although Kalshi has yet to put up markets for horse racing, Polymarket had a volume of $1.2 million on its market for the 2025 GI Kentucky Derby. “One of these companies had a meeting with me,” Drazin said. “And the first slide they showed me was [the 2026 GI] Haskell [Stakes] coming up. And they want to offer a wager, 'Will the favorite win, yes or no?' And they don't believe they have to pay a host fee. They don't believe they have to compensate the tracks at all. “I believe, to the contrary, that this is controlled by the Interstate Horseracing Act (IHA). And I certainly will be in court if they try and offer a [Haskell] wager,” Drazin said. Earlier this year, the NBA, NFL and MLB (which each have official partnerships with sportsbooks) expressed written concerns to the CFTC about potential integrity issues regarding prediction markets. But not every sports league is intent on fighting the newcomers. On Oct. 22, the NHL announced multi-year licensing deals with Kalshi and Polymarket that will allow the companies to use the league's data and logos, similar to the league's contracts with its partnering sportsbooks. According to ESPN, the American Gaming Association (AGA), a casino trade group, characterized the NHL's actions as “deeply concerning” and described Kalshi and Polymarket as “backdoor gambling schemes masquerading as 'financial products.'” Drazin continued: “Without getting political, I think there are certain individuals, like Donald Trump Jr., that's on salary with Kalshi and an investor in Polymarket. And [President Trump] is making an appointment to the CFTC which will support this agenda… “But most of the action so far has been by the sports betting regulators,” Drazin said. “The New Jersey [Division of Gaming Enforcement] tried to stop them and they were unsuccessful. That's on appeal to the Third Circuit. Nevada tried to stop them. There was an injunction issued, and [on Nov. 16] Nevada's judge, hearing this issue, said he may reverse that injunction… “The California tribes filed an action. The Massachusetts attorney general filed a state court action. Maryland filed an action, [and] although they were successful in getting an injunction, then they made a deal, [that until] the Supreme Court decides it, they're going to let this continue… “The companies are getting very, very aggressive,” Drazin said. “There's been more and more going on as the days unroll. So now FanDuel and DraftKings have entered [the prediction] market. As a result of that, the AGA has asked them to leave, because they won't tolerate someone who's offering these wagers. “Nevada took away [FanDuel's] license. There are some states that are saying, 'If you enter the [prediction] market, you're not suitable to hold a license [for regulated sports betting] in our state,” Drazin said. “Some suggest that you need state laws that prevent [prediction market companies] from operating in your state [and] to give regulators the ability to criminalize it,” Drazin said. “But I'm not going to venture to say what New Jersey should do on that. I'll evaluate the issue. I think our attorney general is front-and-center in handling this. “But on the racing front, no one seems to sense the danger yet, because they say, 'We'll wait until it happens, and then we'll deal with it.'” Drazin said. “I think you have to be proactive with these things. I don't think you can wait until it happens, and then run to court,” Drazin said. “Ultimately, I think this is going to the United States Supreme Court. So it will [likely be decided] three or four years from now,” Drazin said. “But I'm firing a warning to everybody, not only in New Jersey, but in all the other states, that this is an issue that we're going to have to deal with or we're going to lose revenue,” Drazin said. The post The Week in Review: Drazin on Prediction Markets as Threat to Racing: ‘No One Seems to Sense the Danger Yet’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Jantar Mantar confirmed his place atop the ranks of Japanese milers with a facile win in the Mile Championship (G1) Nov. 23 at Kyoto Racecourse.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Watch Me Rock led a Grant and Alana Williams-trained exacta with his victory in the Railway Stakes (G1) at Ascot Racecourse Nov. 22.View the full article
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