Kerrs win inaugural award

Press, 31 July 1989, Page 29

Kerrs win inaugural award

Dave and Jan Kerr, of Christchurch, have won the inaugural New Zealand Trainers’ Association Strike-Rate Award. The skilful preparation and placing of their 15-horse team to win 27 of their 78 starts enabled them to end the season considerably ahead of their nearest rival. The Kerrs’ team ended the season with the creditable rate of one win from every 2.89 starts.

The star of the stable was probably youngster, Straight Line, whose only defeat in six starts was

when fourth behind Phillipa Rush in the Magic Million feature. Red Back too was a leading light, winning at five of his nine appearances.

Even though he saddled four unplaced runners last Saturday, Wayne Marshment wound up a clear second in the national contest with a strike rate of one in 4.95. Turbojet, with three wins from six starts, and Master Bard, which matched that tally from eight runs, did best for the stable which incidentally had an ex-

asperating run of minor placings. Ray and Kerry Verner were top of the northern contenders, but only by a close margin. It was a last-minute win by Jay Star at the Whangarei meeting on Friday that put them ahead of Mike Moroney, whose five representatives failed to fire at the Taumarunui meeting on Saturday. The most successful of the big stables was that of the O’Sullivans, who started 78 horses in 482 starts for 79 wins at a creditable average of one

in 6.10. Other strike rates of interest were Jim Gibbs 6.86, Margaret Bull 9.56, Garth and Craig Ivil 6.65, Roger James 6.16 and Bonecrusher’s trainer, Frank Ritchie, 7.25. Ken and Anne Browne, as the country’s biggest owner-trainers, started 24 individual horses 210 times for 20 wins at a cost of 10.5. The presentation of the National and Area Awards will take place at an official function in conjunction with the special “Trainers’ Day” at Ellerslie during the spring.