Page 94 - September 2022

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WRS Valentino winning the 2022 WRS Moonin Thewagon winning the 2021 WRS Hava Dasher qualifies with the fastest Bradford Stakes. QHRAI Derby. time to the 2022 Heartland Futurity.
“Horses are just a passion I’ve always had, in any activity. It just makes me happy to watch a good horse compete.” – Randy Williams
Williams Racing’s second all-time great is WRS Valentino. “We’re racing him right now,” Randy says. “He’s a 6 year old and last week he won the Bradford Stakes for the second year
in a row. Out of 19 starts, he’s never finished lower than second.”
The Randy Smith-trained multiple stakes winner’s earnings total $411,846, with
because they were all just right there at the wire,” Randy says.
Up and coming are 2 year olds WRS Painted Moon, a full brother to WRS Moonin Thewagon; and stakes-placed WRS Hava Dasher (Apollitical Blood-WRS Kissandteller, Teller Cartel), who had the fastest time to the Heartland Futurity and ran third in the final.
“Butch told me, ‘Randy, get your vet out
to check that filly before you buy her.’ The vet checked her and told me she’d make a great broodmare, but she’d never hold up to racing. Butch wasn’t just trying to sell me a horse and get his money and leave, he was trying to take care of me. He was also the one who told me to breed WRS Kissandteller to Mighty B Valiant,
92 SPEEDHORSE September 2022
10 wins and nine seconds, raced solely at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
He broke his maiden his first out, then won the QHRA of Indiana Stallion Service Auction Futurity and the Governor’s Stakes. At 3, he ran second in the Indiana Grand QHRAI Derby, the QHRAI Stallion Service Auction Derby and the QHRAI Derby. Then at 4, he ran second in the Bradford Stakes and won
the Indiana Championship Stakes. As a 5 year old, in addition to his Bradford Stakes win,
he ran second in the Indiana Championship Stakes. This year, at 6, his first win was in the Horseshoe Indianapolis Overnight Stakes.
WRS Moonin Thewagon ranks third on Randy’s list, with career stats of 11-7-2-1 and $247,114. “He’s a tremendous individual,” Randy says. “At 4, he’s having to face WRS Valentino.
“As a 2 year old, Moon won the Governor’s Stakes, the richest open Quarter Horse race up there, then he comes back as a 3 year old, and we only raced him four times. He won the trial and the final to the first derby up there, the Indiana Grand QHRAI Derby, and then he came back later and won the trial and the final to the QHRAI Derby Stakes.”
This year, the multiple stakes winner ran third in the Bradford Stakes against WRS Valentino. “You could’ve thrown a blanket over Valentino and a little filly called New Note and old Moon and covered them all up
FRIENDS AND MENTORS
Randy and Gwen credit their friends, mentors and everyone on their team, from farm help to
and that’s how I got WRS Valentino.”
His at-home team, combined with his racing
connections, work in concert with Gwen and Randy to produce the kind of runners that can compete with bigger farms. But they find just as much joy from spending time around them as from watching them win. “With the babies and all right now, we own 23,” Randy says. “We’ve got five pregnant mares with babies on them right now, out there in their big paddock where they can run and play. I’d have to say I love to go to races and watch them run, but I also love watching the babies!”
When they’re not working, the Williamses’ pastimes include going to church, going out to eat, or jumping in the truck and going to stay in their camper in Indiana to watch the horses and visit with friends. “Other than going to church, our whole life is devoted to taking care of our horses,” he says.
They are, however, involved in plans in the works to build a Quarter Horse track 400 miles northeast in Ashland, Kentucky. “That’s the most exciting news we’ve had; they’re talking about a nice track and some tremendously good purses for Kentucky-breds and all the horses.
“Horses are just a passion I’ve always had, in any activity,” he adds. “We do the racing, but I love the cutting horses and the reining horses, too. It just makes me happy to watch a good horse compete.”
Trainer Heath Taylor, whom they have known since his youth.
their veterinarian, with Williams Racing’s success.
“I remember when Heath Taylor was just a little old kid up there at Paducah,” Randy says. “And his brother, Brent, manages a farm in Indiana. I’ve known them for years, and also have a wonderful
relationship with my trainer Randy Smith
and his wife.
“I’ve also known
Butch Wise for years,” he says. “The first time
I ever met him,
I was looking at
a little filly at a horse sale that was represented by Lazy E and I just loved that little filly and had to have her.
Trainer Randy Smith
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