Sam Williams
"I was always at the stable," says the third generation Williams with a smile. "I guess I was cheap labour but I loved it, even as a kid."
Sam attended his first sales as a 10 year old in 1980 and led his first yearling, through the ring, by Noble Bijou from Corsage, five years later.
Buzz and Tom Williams hoped that horse might fetch $40,000. Instead, bidding went on until the hammer finally fell at $175,000. Sam Williams had found his vocation and was hooked.
After leaving school, he went on to spend three summers at Sir Patrick Hogan's famed Cambridge Stud, initially preparing yearlings for the Gold Coast sales before being promoted to take charge of the Karaka colts and then 21 yearlings at a new Hogan property.
At the same time, Sam was completing a Diploma in Farm Management from Lincoln and using every opportunity to soak up knowledge from other leading stud masters. He particularly values the time spent with Gary Mudgeway at David Benjamin's Fayette Park - until the day the stallion Omnicorp savaged his arm, necessitating 10 screws.
During an enforced break to recover from the injury, Sam took time to visit England on OE and although not working directly with horses, he was able to visit and spend time at the National Studs of England and Ireland.
Sam returned to New Zealand and Little Avondale in the summer of 1993 and as they say the rest is history.
"We've added speed to the established bloodlines, we're now looking at those mile - 2000 metre horses. We recognise the general flow of the market and we want to always be in the top bracket."
Asked to rate some highlights, Sam says
The sale of Philosophe for $475,000 at Karaka was incredibly special, particularly since the Zabeel gelding went on to win the G2 Chairmans Handicap in Sydney.
Another would definitly be producing the Redoutes Choice filly from the Rorys Jester mare, Foxtrot which we sold for $700,000 to Johnathan Munz and Glenlogan Farm. She was the top filly of the sale.
The Exceed and Excel colt out of Pin Up Lae we sold at Sydney Easter 2015 for $500,000 was pretty special as we had purchased the service from Darley at a CatWalk evening fundraiser. CatWalk won and so did we!
The Savabeel sold at Karaka 2016 out of Generous Nature fetching $775,000 in the year of the Williams family celebrating 75 years of breeding will be an unforgetable moment. The colt was owned by LA, Anna and Ben Petro and Amanda and Kerry Wilkins and purchased by Toby Koenig for Ultra Thoroughbreds. Generous Nature realised his investment for Ultra Thoroughbreds, Sean Buckley, after an impressive win in the G3 Ming Dynasty.
We're very careful with the mating of our own mares - we send five or six to Australia each year and also to the established New Zealand sires. I think the most exciting time for both Catriona and I is during the foaling season. We pride ourselves on producing correct, well conformed individuals - we're both very strict on the attention to detail. We are looking out for each and every horse right from their first minute with us.
Per Incanto is our pride and joy. The return for breeders as well as shareholders has been phenominal. In top Australasia breeders words, Lib Petagna "Per Incanto has been a great investment. We've sold yearlings for 20x his service fee and the annual dividends are now nearly the equivalent of his service fee".