by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Today the bay colt lives only seven barns away from the very spot where his outstanding brother Cam Knows Best was tragically killed in a fire nearly eight years ago. While the passage of time has only slightly dulled the pain of that loss, Dragon King will look to continue on the family tradition of greatness when he goes postward in Saturday night’s $538,270 Art Rooney Pace final.

Plainfield, NJ — What do Roy Williams and his son Roy Williams, Jr. know about horses that most people don’t? A lot of people might be asking that same question Saturday night (July 5) when Dragon King goes behind the gate for David Miller in this year’s $538,270 Art Rooney Pace final at Yonkers Raceway. This life-size son of Dragon Again has not only got the rail, he’s got a great driver, and a dedicated trainer who quite literally works from sunrise to sunset — and then some.

Fawn Williams photo

Roy Williams and Dragon King, who has the rail in Saturday’s Art Rooney Pace final.

Roy Williams is a particularly committed horseman who has devotedly maintained a small but very select stable of Standardbreds since the 1960s, but these days the 71-year-old trainer from Georgia might be looking to make a late run at superstardom with his relatively inexpensive yearling selection. His son, Roy Williams, Jr., is especially proud of both his dad and his horse.

“We bought Dragon King at the New Jersey Classic Sale in September (2006),” said Roy’s son and co-owner Roy Williams, Jr., a partner in a wealth management firm in Pennington, New Jersey. “We paid $20,000 for him which was as far as I was willing to go — that was my limit.

“I picked about 10 horses from the catalog and my dad went over every single one of them. Dragon King, he felt, had the best attitude and the best gait in the videos we watched from horses consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms. He’s also a half brother to Cam Knows Best. We felt the horse had the right attitude and the right conformation and we took a shot.”

The shot the father and son team took landed them an outstanding colt, and if everything goes according to plan Saturday at Yonkers, Dragon King will be $269,135 richer and headed for The Meadowlands Pace — not bad for an under-priced yearling and a guy who started out in the sewing machine business.

“My father was very successful in sewing sales,” recalled Roy Williams, Jr. “He owned a sewing machine parts company called R.W. Sewing Supplies and he retired from that in 2000 but he’s been in the harness racing business for a long time.

“My dad’s godfather Mike introduced him to harness racing back in the 1960s by going to Yonkers and Roosevelt, and in 1966 or 1967 he purchased his first horse, Star Of David. He’s been in the business ever since.”

These days the elder Roy Williams is handling a small stable at Gaitway Farm in Manalapan, New Jersey, and there isn’t a trainer within earshot who matches Williams’ incredible work ethic.

“My dad shows up at the barn at 4:30 in the morning and gets the horses out by 6:00,” says Roy Jr. “He comes home at 2:00 in the afternoon and he goes back to the barn at 6:00 p.m. to give them fresh water.”

Perhaps it was all that fresh water that landed Dragon King in the spot he’s in now. In last week’s Art Rooney elimination, Dragon King was badly impeded at the start yet still managed to qualify for the final with a third-place finish in 1:55.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Dragon King has won three times in 14 lifetime starts, with a mark of 1:54.1f.

“We were very happy with the way Dave Miller handled him in the elimination,” said Roy Jr. “He did a tremendous job when Riggins, the two horse, broke and took Dragon King ten lengths out of the race. Dave Miller avoided running into him and after that point he made up ten lengths before the quarter pole. Dave did a great job of coming up the rail for third place in the stretch to get us into the final.”

Despite his more recent successes, Dragon King almost didn’t make it to the Art Rooney elimination.

“Dragon King won in 1:54.1 at Chester (May 21) and after the race he had a lot of mucous. We had him scoped and he was sick with a deep lung infection. We didn’t realize how sick he was until we got the results from that scope.

“We had to scratch him the following week because he was still sick — he couldn’t shake it. Finally he shook it and we raced him back and he bled. We put him on Lasix and I insisted, before I paid the $10,000 entry fee, to see how he reacted to being on Lasix. He won by five lengths at Yonkers the Monday before the Rooney elimination in 1:54.3 — easily winning and I am looking at the win photo now and the driver has a snug hold on him.”

As good as Dragon King is now, it’s important to mention that the early part of his development was spent in the care of trainer Taylor Gower. After purchasing the colt, Roy and Roy Jr. handed the breaking chores over to Gower.

“Taylor does a great jog with young horses,” said Roy Jr. “I couldn’t be happier with the way he developed this horse. He’s fantastic and the way he handles young horses — it’s almost like the horse whisperer.”

After Taylor Gower got Dragon King going, Roy Williams took over the training on October 9, 2007. Dragon King rewarded his owner/trainer with a 1:56 win in a qualifier and a subsequent pari-mutuel win at Harrah’s Chester in 1:56.1.

With only 14 starts on his card, Dragon King has had quite an array of drivers.

“Being a small stable we have to pick the best driver that we have access to,” said Roy Jr. “We have a great opportunity to have David Miller. My dad called Dave at home to ask him to drive for us in the elimination and he did. It improves our odds to have a great driver like Dave.

“With the right trip he has a great shot, but he’s going in against some tough horses like Badlands Nitro and Jody Jamieson’s horse Santanna Blue Chip.”

The field for this year’s Art Rooney lines up thusly: 1- Dragon King (David Miller), 2 – Moon Beam (Eric Abbatiello), 3 – Santanna Blue Chip (Jody Jamieson), 4- Legacy N Diamonds (Tim Tetrick), 5 – Idle Hour (Jason Bartlett), 6 – Badlands Nitro (Brian Sears), 7 – Meant To Be Me (John Campbell), and 8 – Dontloseyourdayjob (Yannick Gingras).