Sir Edward Williams - A Love of the Turf

A lifelong horse-racing enthusiast, Sir Edward was an active supporter of the Queensland Turf Club for over 46 years. He joined the Club in 1953 and was elected to the Committee in 1966. He served as Chairman of the Committee for 11 years, from 1980 to 1991, and was also a trustee of the Eagle Farm Racecourse for over 23 years.

He retired from the Committee in 1993 and was elected a Life Member in 1991.

To honour his long service, the Queensland Turf Club instituted the inaugural Sir Edward Williams Handicap which had its inaugural running in 1996. The race, over 1500 metres, is held on Queensland Oaks Day each year and is one of the qualifying events for direct entry to the AAMI Stradbroke Handicap. By an amusing coincidence, the 2002 winner was a horse called ‘Lord Denning’.

Winners of the Queensland Turf Club

Sir Edward Williams Handicap

2003   Warrior Trader
2002   Lord Denning
2001   Perfect Paradise
2000   Brighter Scene
1999   Event not held
1998   Lomas
1997 Eastern Star
1996 Kidman’s Cove

As a barrister, Sir Edward Williams acquired a reputation for defending disqualified or suspended racing people. One of his more memorable cases involved a strapper accused of drugging the horse 'Conco D’or'. On appeal, Williams contended, in an 87 minute address, that one of the strapper’s pain killers – containing a drug consistent with that found in the horse – had dropped into the horse’s feed. He won the appeal, saying ‘I will go all day because I think the man is innocent’.

A busy man as both a barrister and a judge, he found time for other pursuits, first of which was horse racing. It was his great love (although it must be said that he, and his wife, Dorothy, did manage to own quite a number of very slow horses).

Syd Williams, The Queensland Racing Calendar, March 1999

Sir Edward was also a keen supporter of the
Far North Queensland Amateur Turf Club, Cairns