The superstar jockey recently sat down with Racing.com for a wide-ranging interview to reflect on his highly successful 2025/26 racing season, his banner horses for the upcoming Spring Carnival, and his goals for the future.

Williams also discussed his humanitarian efforts in Ukraine over the last four years, which will go to air on Racing.com as part of a special upcoming program.

Reflections on last season

“It’s been a great 12 months competing. The highlights are obviously Group 1 races and then to win my 10th championship.

“It’s one thing that we focused on, it’s a lot of hard work and a lot of great opportunities, a lot of things going right. That was really good and really rewarding in the end, to work really hard and achieve that.

“The surprise was the Scobie for us because you’ve got no control over that. I thought I rode really well but so did so many other jockeys.

“I was really overwhelmed by winning my sixth Scobie and obviously, when you get to receive it after spending a few days in Ukraine dealing with death and destruction, it was quite emotional for me.

“It was great to be able to share it with most of my family back here in Melbourne being able to accept the award on my behalf.”
WATCH: Craig Williams accepting his Scobie Breasley Medal

Why is the championship a priority?

“You get one, it’s great, you become a premiership, championship-winning jockey. That feeling of when you work really hard and you get the result, I don’t know, for me, it just seems to work well for me.”

We hear you talk a lot about team. How big is Team Craig?

“Team Craig is now 14 employed people and that got extended. We were lucky enough to have an extra addition with Simon Kerney coming onboard as a high-performance coach, as another mentor. It’s brilliant, the science in sports now, and I was really lucky to have him introduced to me by Gerry Ryan.

“He’s a great addition but again, I can’t do it without so many people working so hard, so it’s not my win, it’s my team’s win because I can’t do it alone; it’s pretty simple.”

How do you think Mr Brightside will go in the Memsie Stakes this weekend?

“I thought he might’ve had a bad day the other day when he galloped between races, but he’s never been a horse that’s actually wowed the stable in most of his pre work; his jumpouts, his gallops. When he gets to the races, he’s a racehorse. He’s had a longer time off than he’s ever had before, he’s had an operation and we’re looking forward to having him back.

“He’s won 10 Group 1s, he’s the best miler in Australia on his day, so he’s a force of nature when he’s in the zone. I’m looking forward to seeing how he competes on Saturday.

“He’s healthy, he’s well, he feels like he wants to be there and that’s the most important thing.”
WATCH: Mr Brightside’s gallop at Sandown last weekend

What makes him such a good horse?

“He’s ever reliable, he’s good, he’s great, he’s tough. Every time he turns up, he just gives his best. If he doesn’t run up to his best, there’s a reason for it.”

Could Sir Delius give Williams a third Cox Plate?

“Sir Delius is a star. His performances have just been extraordinary and what we were able to do with him in the spring, from a jockey’s perspective, was really exciting until he obviously was ruled out of the end of the spring. It felt like someone took one of my legs off when he was ruled out.

“Adrian (Bott) and Gai (Waterhouse), his trainers, have done a great job to bring him back in the autumn.

“You saw when he’s at his best how good he is, he was ultimately impressive in the Queen Elizabeth.”

WATCH: Sir Delius in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes

Later this season, you’ll turn 50 in May. What do you want to do before you one day hang up that saddle?

“We’ve got some goals, like we do every year. One of those goals is to get to 100 Group 1 and then we’ll revaluate and put another mark on them.

“We’re driven to get to 100, that seems to be a nice, round number.

“If we’re in a position, obviously, if you can equal the all-time record holders with Billy Duncan and Roy Higgins (11 Melbourne premiership titles each), it’s an amazing feat.

“They’re definitely our plans through the next twelve months, for sure.”