With just over a week left of the racing season and premierships set to be crowned, it seems a good time for Run The Numbers to see which trainers, jockeys and sires have made the biggest improvement when it comes to racetrack wins this season.
Father-and-son combination Anthony and Sam Freedman savoured their own piece of history this season when they became the second trainers this century to guide the same horse to the famous Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double.
Without A Fight was the undoubted star of the stable, and indeed could conceivably win Australian Horse of the Year honours, but now famous victories at Caulfield and Flemington are just two of the 130 wins for the stable in an Australian racetrack this season.
That total is already their best season since their partnership began in 2019/20 and is the best by any of the Freedman family since Hall Of Famer Lee trained 165 winners in 2008/09.
It also represents a 61-win increase for Anthony and Sam compared to last season, an extraordinary jump, while they also banked nearly twice as much prize money.
That improvement of 61 is the largest of any Australia stable this season, making them Australia’s most-improved yard on a season-by-season basis.
Grant and Alana Williams finished equal second in that category with 53 more wins this season than last, and some more time to build on that success. The West Australian pair were recently profiled in The Straight, having bounced back from their split with Bob Peters in 2022 to become the state’s premiers trainers yet again, with 106 wins to date this season.
Also with an improvement of 53 is Tasmanian-based John Keys, who had just one winner last season but 54 to date in 2023/24. There is a bit of an asterisk on this achievement as Keys inherited one of Tasmania’s leading stables from his son-in-law Scott Brunton, who was banned about this time last year.
However, the stable is entirely under this name and based on that, he has every right to be included. For context, for this exercise training partnerships which gained or lost a partner on 2022/23 were counted as the same stable.
The Lindsay Park partnership of Ben, Will and JD Hayes have enjoyed their best season, with 197 wins for the season to date. That is an increase of 44 from last season, putting them fourth on the most improved category.
Danny O’Brien also had a resurgent season, with 40 extra winners compared to last season, 102 compared to 62. It has been the best season ever for O’Brien, who has only once before broke the century mark for the season, in 2019/20.
Just outside the top five is Queensland’s Stuart Kendrick, with 35 more wins this season than last (117 compared to 82), then Gold Coast-based Paula Barron, who has increased her number of wins from one last season to 34 this campaign.
Tasmania’s Glenn Stevenson is eighth, increasing his wins by 29, from 27 to 56, while Warrnambool-based pair Symon Wilde and Tom Dabernig both celebrated and extra 25 wins this season.
Most improved trainers by Australian wins
As of July 20
Moving on to the jockeys and as this category counts Australian-based wins only, it is Damien Lane, long regarded as one of the country’s best hoops, who has made the most improvement.
Lane has ridden 149 Australian winners in 2023/24, 91 more than he did last season. The prime reason has been the fact he has stayed home and not travelled to Japan, where he rode 44 winners last season.
As an indication to his increased presence in Australia, Lane has had over double the Australian rides this season as he did last season.
Second on the jockeys’ most improved, based on comparative seasonal records is another Group 1-winning jockey, Tommy Berry.
Berry sat out much of the 2022/23 season through a lengthy suspension/disqualification and didn’t return to the saddle until September 2023. Since then, he has had 106 winners, giving him 76 more than he did over the course of last season.
Gold Coast-based apprentice Jai Williams has had a breakout season, with 86 winners for the campaign, including five in one meeting at the Gold Coast last September. That’s an improvement of 55 wins on last season when he had 31 in total and puts him as the third most improved jockey when it comes to wins.
Veteran rider Mathew Cahill returned to the saddle after over a year out with injury this time last year and has rekindled his love for booting home winners. He has had 57 in all this season, 55 more than last campaign
Thomas Stockdale has enjoyed the best season of his career and recently ticked over the century of winners for the first time. The Victorian-based hoop has 102 winners for the campaign, 52 more than he did last season. Greater opportunities have helped him, but his strike rate has improved immensely, from 9.1 per cent to 14.9 per cent.
Madi Derrick returned to WA at the start of the season and has been rewarded with her best campaign ever with 58 wins. That is 51 more than she rode when based in New South Wales in 2022/23.
Two jockeys on the comeback trail fill the next two positions. Adam Hyeronimus missed much of 2022/23 as he served a lengthy suspension, getting back in the saddle in May 2023. This season has been his best, in terms of winners, with 64, 48 more than he rode in 2022/23.
Michael Rodd spent almost two years on the sidelines with post-concussion syndrome, but since returning in October has saluted the judge on 47 occasions to sit inside the top 10 for most improved.
Level ninth on that measure are Ashley Morgan, who has 140 wins, Billy Egan, on 109 and Jaylah Kennedy on 66, who all improved their hauls by 46 on last season.
Most improved jockeys by Australian wins
As of July 20
Finally, the list of the most improved sires by winners is dominated as you would expect, by those who have their second and third crops on the track in the current season.
Newgate’s Russian Revolution tops the list having had 112 winners this season, which is 44 more than last season. He has had 75 more runners this season than he had in 2022/23.
Arrowfield’s The Autumn Sun will be the leading second-season sire by Australian winners with 45, That is 41 more than he had with his first two-year-old crop, ranking him second overall on the most improved sires by winners.
Russian Revolution’s contemporary, Hellbent, has also made strong progress this season with 92 Australian winners, which is 37 more than the Yarraman Park resident achieved last season.
That ranks him just above Merchant Navy, now of Kooringal Stud, who doubled his seasonal winners from 35 to 70, and Swettenham Stud’s star Toronado, who continued to improve his record with 139 Australian winners in 2023/24 as compared to 104 in 2022/23.
Widden’s Trapeze Artist and Written By both increased their volume of winners by 34, to 43 and 38 respectively.
Darley’s Impending saw his Australian winners increase from 36 to 68, while Pariah, who now stands in Queensland, went from 32 to 63. Harry Angel’s number of winners increased from nine in his first season to 39 in his second, including Group 1 winner Tom Kitten.
Most improved sires by winners in Australia
Source: Arion.co.nz
As of July 20
