Michael Grantham has captured his first WA Metropolitan Trainers’ Premiership, edging out multiple-time champions Grant and Alana Williams by the narrowest of margins after a season-long battle that went down to the final meeting.
Grantham finished the 2025/26 season with 60 metropolitan winners, just one clear of the Williams stable after a dramatic conclusion at Belmont on Wednesday.
He entered the final day holding a two-win advantage, but with runners in only two races compared to five for the Williams team, the premiership was far from secure.
The title race remained alive through the middle stages of the program.
Grant and Alana Williams struck an early setback when the $2.60 favourite Silent Diva failed to fire in Race 5, finishing unplaced.
Race 6 saw the two leading stables represented by joint favourites, but neither could land the decisive blow as Williams-trained Conchetta’s Dream finished second while Grantham’s American Image was unplaced.
The pressure intensified in Race 7 when the Williams stable claimed victory with Mai Aloha, reducing Grantham’s lead to just one win with two races remaining.
However, the Williams partnership had only one final opportunity to force a share of the premiership, and when Streak Of God was unable to salute in Race 8, Grantham’s maiden metropolitan title was secured.
It capped a breakthrough season for the trainer, who also celebrated his first Group 1 victory when Cosmic Crusader won the Northerly Stakes at Ascot in December after a memorable duel with the Williams-trained Watch Me Rock.
Cosmic Crusader proved a defining horse in Grantham’s career, winning four of his seven starts for the stable while also recording a second and two third placings.
Those performances convinced owner Bob Peters to target richer races on the east coast, prompting a stable transfer to Andrea Leek.
The move paid immediate dividends when Cosmic Crusader won the Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield at his first start for his new trainer last Saturday.
While Cosmic Crusader starred on the track over the weekend, Wednesday belonged to Grantham.
Despite not saddling a winner on the final day of the season, he walked away with the biggest prize of all as WA’s champion metropolitan trainer.
After a career-best campaign, Grantham’s long-awaited first premiership could well be the beginning of even greater success in the years ahead.
