Horse racing: Empire City latest star to emerge under supremo Phil Williamson

Empire City.

Trot training supremo Phil Williamson has just retired his best-ever trotter but he has a new apple of his eye in at Alexandra Park tonight.

Williamson’s multiple Group 1 winner Majestic Man has run his last race after 105 starts for 24 wins and $855,545 in stakes, numbers that could have been so much higher had he not raced in such a great era.

“He ran so many placings behind Sundees Son, Winterfell, Muscle Mountain, Oscar Bonavena that he could have won well over $1 million and then some,” says Williamson.

Majestic Man also beat trotting’s new hero, Just Believe, when thrashing him in last year’s Dullard Cup and also beat him home when second to Just Believe’s third in the 2021 Inter Dominion Trotting Final, so on his day Majestic Man was the killer of all trotting giants.

“He was a wonderful horse for us and his syndicate of owners and he is going to join his old mate, Monty Python, in a retirement so they can be together.”

Williamson’s new trotting excitement machine, Empire City, has an awfully long way to go to get to Majestic Man’s level but she has started her career on the right trajectory with five wins from seven starts and winning juvenile trotter of the year.

She returned at Addington last week with a powerful win via a long sustained run from the 800m mark and oozes class.

“She has all the key ingredients to be a top trotter, she has the gait, the manners and the speed,” says Williamson, one of the most successful trainers of trotters ever in this part of the world.

For all Empire City’s obvious talent, Williamson has brought enough newbies to Alexandra Park to know they can be tripped up by racing right-handed for the first time, especially so, trotters whose whole racing career is a balancing act.

“She isn’t as confident this way [right-handed] yet and while she will get there, this is her trial for richer races coming up in a few weeks.

“She will wear a Murphy Blind on her inside this week to help her steer better and she can win but I am sure she will be better for the experience.”

Empire City also finds herself as one of the brightest stars of a stronger-than-usual early-season 3-year-old crop with plenty of talented rivals tonight and maybe one really good horse in Paramount Kiwi.

He was unbeaten as a 2-year-old and looked a natural and while he was beaten into third in his seasonal debut last start, there was far more to the story than that.

Paramount Kiwi finished third to older horses and trotted a remarkable 2:45.5, which is more than two seconds faster than the national record for a 3-year-old, not that it will count, as only winning times do.

But it shows what a talent he is and if he shows gate speed and settles in front of Empire City, the filly will need to do something special to beat him.

Add in Father Barry, Levi, Dreams Pat, Bounce N Beyond and Princess Sadie, who Williamson is caretaker training for son Matthew, and this 3-year-old crop will provide some real highlights as their season develops.

Trotters will be the highlight of the early part of tonight’s meeting with a stacked juvenile trot, including some impressive trialists and the return of last season’s Anzac Cup winner, Eurokash, in Race 5.

But it wraps with a good 2-year-old fillies race and Duchess Megxit set to go around red hot in a four-horse Race 10.