Small teams can still make a big impact in the New Zealand racing industry, with the finalists for Trainer of the Year – sponsored by Dunstan, being a prime example of this.
Premiership winner Mark Walker, who heads Te Akau Racing, and Lisa Latta, who finished third equal in the Premiership, are joined by Ken and Bev Kelso, who were 84th on the Trainers’ table.
The Kelsos, who have been training together at Matamata for more than 40 years, had only 10 individual runners in the 2022-23 season, just five of whom raced more than once. There were three individual winners, who contributed eight wins.
But the factor that earned the husband-and-wife training partnership a place as finalists was that their trio of winners included two of the standout performers of the season.
Between them, the stable stars Levante and Legarto won four Group 1 races and two others at Group level. The pair had 13 starts, including nine in Group 1 races, for seven wins and four placings and NZ$1.7 million in stakes.
Pennyweka, who is a finalist for Champion Three-Year-Old and Champion Stayer, is another big winner who emerged from a small stable last term. The dual Oaks winner is trained at Masterton by Jim Wallace, who started only two horses during the season.
The Trainer of the Year finalists accounted for half of the 20 Group 1 races run in New Zealand, with two more elite wins in Australia.
Walker, who won five Group 1 races and 34 black type races in total, broke most domestic training records in the 2022-23 season. His 203 wins meant he became the first to top 200 in a season, beating the previous record by 43, and finishing 103 wins ahead of his nearest rival.
His stake earnings of $8.25m were also a New Zealand record and combined with the Australian earnings brought the overall figure to more than $9 million. With a huge stable – 1290 domestic runners is another record – Walker still delivered a winning strike rate of 6.35.
Lisa Latta is a past Premiership winner, when she had a significantly larger team, but it was quality rather than quantity which kept the Awapuni trainer in the limelight in the 2022-23 term. Her tally of 10 black type winners was the next best after Walker and included three individual Group 1 winners – He’s A Doozy, Pignan and Belclare – and the Group 2 Auckland Cup winner Platinum Invador.
There were also four Group 3 wins which helped push Latta’s stake earnings to a personal best of $2.5 million.
Premiership winner Michael McNab is joined by Opie Bosson and Ryan Elliot as finalists for Jockey of the Year – sponsored by TAB.
McNab’s 164 wins gave him a winning margin of 47 and he also became the first
rider to top $4 million in domestic earnings in a season, extending the record tally to
$4.79m. He maintained an impressive strike rate and, along with Bosson, had 18 black type wins during the season, including McNab’s first stakes win in Australia.
Bosson finished third on the Premiership and his good record in feature races was backed up by having the best strike rate of any flat rider in the top 50.
Elliot finished 14th on the Premiership but had a remarkable record in Group 1 races. The 24-year-old, who went into the season with a career tally of three wins at Group 1 level, was the leading Group 1 rider, with six wins and five placings from 18 attempts.
His elite wins included three of the four Group 1 classic races – New Zealand Derby, New Zealand Oaks, and New Zealand 2000 Guineas – and he finished third in the 1000 Guineas. Elliot also won the Auckland Cup, which had been a Group 1 race until 2021. His tally of feature wins meant he finished third on the Jockeys’ table in terms of Group and Listed races and fourth in stake earnings.
Shaun Fannin and Shaun Phelan are the two finalists for Jumps Jockey of the Year – sponsored by Happy Hire.
Fannin won five of the 11 Prestige Jumping Races and was the leading rider in terms of feature races, wins and stake earnings. His impressive list of big race wins comprised the Grand National Steeplechase, Great Northern Steeplechase, Wellington Steeplechase, Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase and Hawke’s Bay Hurdle. With 17 wins from 42 rides, he was 10 wins clear of his nearest rival and his stake earnings topped $550,000.
Phelan’s season was cut short by a fall in Australia, in early May, but he still recorded five wins and nine placings from 19 rides and his wins included the Grand National Hurdles and Pakuranga Hunt Cup.
The four finalists for Champion Jumper – Happy Star, Suliman, The Cossack and West Coast – were all perennial winners, amassing 14 wins between them from 20 attempts.
The People and Jumps racing Finalists are set to be presented at the 2022-23 New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards held on Sunday 10 September.
The finalists for the People and Jumps racing categories are:
Champion Jumper:
Happy Star, Suliman, The Cossack, West Coast.
Trainer of the Year – sponsored by Dunstan:
Mark Walker, Lisa Latta, Ken and Bev Kelso.
Jockey of the Year – sponsored by TAB:
Michael McNab, Opie Bosson, Ryan Elliot.
Jumps Jockey of the Year – sponsored by Happy Hire:
Shaun Fannin, Shaun Phelan.
Owner of the Year – sponsored by TAB NZ:
Barneswood Farm, Catherine & Phillip Brown, Clearview Park, Gerry Harvey, JML Bloodstock, Brendan & Jo Lindsay, Kevin Myers, The Oaks Stud, Dean Skipper, Allan & Marie Tyler, Waikato Stud.
Jockeys’ Premiership Winner:
Michael McNab
Trainers’ Premiership Winner:
Mark Walker
Owners’ Premiership Winner:
Brendan & Jo Lindsay
Apprentice Jockeys’ Premiership Winner:
Tayla Mitchell
