Taffy is driven by a life on the road

13 April 2012

The Mercedes six-box with the registration G161 NAG and 34 gallons of diesel in the tank rolls out of the stable yard and the small cloth-capped figure in the passenger seat is bearing a gap-toothed grin. Phil Howard Williams, 'Taffy' to those who know him, and it appears everyone in racing does, is on the road again.

A serious illness saw him relinquish his role behind the wheel after driving for a total of nearly three million miles, but trainer Richard Hannon's travelling head lad for 26 years, whose boss rates him as "the world's worst tipster", is still very much in command.

Williams is one of the old school, riding at Welsh flapping tracks at the age of 12 and progressing to Sam Armstrong's yard, and then arriving, together with handlers Josh Gifford and Paul Kelleway at the stable of the late trainer Ryan Price. "Ryan was a one-off. Owners used to come to see their horses and find he had sold them. Marvellous days," Williams says.

The odds did not look attractive some time ago when Swansea-born Williams developed prostate cancer, but he won that battle. After the operation Williams was told the 20-1 shot he had advised operating theatre staff to back had romped home while he was under the anaesthetic. It was one of his better selections.

Hannon never did a finer day's work than when he signed Williams. "I've never regretted it," he says. "His main characteristic is that he is completely trustworthy. When you have someone like him at the business end of affairs at the track, you know you can rely on things.

"Horses will be turned out absolutely spot on with nothing left to chance. So, he's the world's worst tipster, according to some people. So he should be - he's on the road all the time. His kind of background, coming from Ryan Price, was like buying experience."

Williams, 59, has a long list of winners which got away, which is not surprising, as so many have failed after he had backed them. His biggest hard luck story was when Charlie Worcester ran at Fontwell more than 20 years ago with Williams' five pounds (a fair bet in those days) riding on his back.

"Charlie Worcester had a very dipped hollow back and Ryan Price had to put a pillow under the saddle to make up for it," Williams recalled. "Halfway round the pillow burst and it was like a snowstorm with all the feathers flying out. He won by a street but got disqualified for weighing in light. I was sick."

However, his finest hour came a decade ago - the last time Hannon had an English Classic winner. Williams fell in love with Tirol the moment he walked into the yard.

"You could put him in a horsebox and travel him on a piece of string," he says. "I lumped on at 40-1 in the winter well before the Two Thousand Guineas and it was a treat to see him trot up."

His only accident in his time at the East Everleigh complex near Marlborough came when he was driving a new box on its first day out of the yard. A car skidded and imbedded itself underneath his new pride and joy. It took two tractors to clear the car from under the horsebox which rather slowly continued on its journey to Leicester races. The impact had sent one of the horses' heads through the roof and Williams mentally wrote off that one's chances. It won at 50-1 of course.

Since having to give up driving the horseboxes, Williams has found a new love for sailing. Last Flat season he and his equine charges were regular customers on cross-channel ferries from Southampton to Le Havre and Dover to Calais for raids on Deauville, Longchamp and Germany.

The Two Thousand Guineas has been Hannon's most successful big race. Besides Tirol he has sent out Mon Fils and Dont Forget Me to take the first colts classic.

The stable has not yet finalised its runners in the Newmarket highlight as yet, and there could be several with fast two-year-olds abounding last term.

Williams has not decided where his money will be bound but is keeping his eyes on Bannister and Zilch, who were separated by a neck in the Gimcrack at York in 2000. There are also some useful horses which will run in the Queen's colours from Hannon's base this season.

Williams is still as much in love with racing as he was when he started out weighing a flea-like 4st 8lb and says: "I've met royalty, film stars and rogues and they all have their place in racing's make-up. Where else in life could an ordinary bloke like me have done all that?"

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