Ritalin shock – leading Perth trainers Grant and Alana Williams stood down over positive swab

Grant and Alana Williams will have to fight to have their training licences reinstated after Racing WA stewards suspended Perth’s reigning premier stable pending the outcome of a positive swab inquiry.

The dramatic intervention by officials came as a prohibited substance was detected during a post-mortem blood sample of their racehorse Starry Heights, who broke down during last October’s Kalgoorlie Cup.

Starry Heights, who suffered a catastrophic injury and was eased out of the race by jockey William Pike, was found to have Ritalinic Acid in its system after a blood sample was taken from the euthanised gelding.

Ritalinic Acid is a metabolite of the human medication methylphenidate (Ritalin), which is a Prohibited List A substance under the RWWA Rules of Thoroughbred Racing. 

Ritalin is used to treat people who suffer from Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Stewards immediately stood down the husband-and-wife training partnership once the finding was verified by the Racing Analytical Services Laboratory (RASL) in Victoria on Tuesday.

The co-trainers will attend a stewards’ inquiry next Tuesday, where they will face questions about how the prohibited substance found its way into Starry Heights, a nine-time winner of nearly $500,000 in prize money.

In a statement, the trainers said they were “extremely surprised and concerned by this finding”.

They vowed to fully cooperate with the stewards in identifying how the contamination may have occurred.

“At no stage have we knowingly administered, or authorised the administration of, any prohibited substance to Starry Heights,” the statement said.

“We have no explanation at this time as to how this substance could have entered the horse’s system.”

Last season’s premier WA trainers, and second on the 2025/2026 table with 39 winners statewide, one behind Michael Grantham, the Williams’s two runners accepted for the Bunbury meeting on Wednesday have been scratched.

They assured their owners that the care, welfare and best interests of the horses “remain our absolute priority”.

“Training operations will continue to be conducted with the same professionalism, diligence and attention to detail that our owners expect and deserve,” the statement said. 

“We understand the concern matters of this nature can cause and are committed to keeping our owners appropriately informed as the inquiry progresses.

“We trust the inquiry process will clarify the circumstances surrounding this matter and allow it to be resolved as quickly as possible.” 

The Williams team trained 121 winners in WA last season, with their runners earning $7.4 million in prize money.

This season, they quinellaed the Group 1 Railway Stakes at Ascot with Watch Me Rock and Western Empire, with the pair finishing second and third in the Northerly Stakes, another of the state’s biggest races at Group 1 level, a fortnight later.