Williamson’s kept the faith with Empire City
Garrick Knight - Raceform • January 15th, 2026 12:01 PM • 4 min read
While on paper a winless 2025 may seem like cause for concern with Empire City, her veteran trainer isn’t panicking.
New Zealand’s 2023 2YO Trotting Filly of the Year has a Group One win, New Zealand record and well over $300,000 in stakes to her name.
As recently as late 2024 she ran second to the brilliant filly Keayang Zahara in the Gr.1 New Zealand Trotting Derby at Addington.
But her 12 runs since have yielded just three minor placings.
Phil Williamson has trained more top trotters than anyone in this country and he is quick to defend the daughter of Volstead, who heads to Ascot Park on Thursday seeking a return to the winner’s circle.
“She returned from a spell last year as a rating 79, which meant a massive step up for her from racing fillies her own age. It was a tough grade with nowhere to hide from the top trotters. We tried to do it quietly, but that just meant there was nowhere for her to race.
“Then, when we got a mares’ trot, she was giving head starts to horses like Princess Sadie and I Dream Of Jeannie. A lot of the time we just had no hope, even when off just 20 metres.
“She’s working as good as she ever has, but the horses she’s been racing against are just that much better than what she was used to.”
Empire City’s tenacity and will to compete meant she’s found it hard to lose rating points and even now she is still a rating 74.
Thursday’s $40,000 Gr.3 Pryde’s Easifeed Southern Lights Trot presents her with a prime opportunity to get back in the winning groove. It’s a six-horse field and she’s only 15 metres behind front-markers Princess Sadie and Domination’s Call.
“On her trackwork she’ll be all over this field but even then, my other horse, Jimmy Carter, he’s won 21 races and is on the same mark as her. He’s racing well at the moment and will be very hard to beat.”
Williamson, in consultation with the mare’s Waiuku owners Peter and Janet Argus, is considering a reset after this week.
“We’re looking at maybe sending her north to race at Auckland where, numerically at least, it will be a lot easier for her. Good stakes, smaller fields, and conditions that help a horse like her – it makes a lot of sense.”
Williamson has three trotters in the $13,000 Southern Crutching & Tailing Handicap Trot, including the early second favourite, Practical Magic.
“It was a really good run from her at Cromwell. She was only run down late in the piece after doing plenty of work.
“She’s a great beginner, but I wouldn’t want her being caught three wide around Invercargill.
“On ability she’s the best of mine, but I don’t know that she can give (stablemate) Harriet’s Moment 30 metres.”
Williamson has maiden trotter What’s The Whisper in the $12,000 Mark Jones Racing Stables trot and he brings two minor placings on the Central Otago circuit as his most recent form. But he’s one of six horses on the unruly in a capacity field over 2200 metres and Williamson isn’t sure he has the ability to circumnavigate all of them.
“He has a win in somewhere soon, but whether it’s this week, I don’t know.”
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