“I try to keep strike rates out of my mind,” said in form trainer Rod Northam. “Trainers who worry about strike rates tend to barrier trial horses more often, waiting for the right races to come along.

Wangaratta based Andrew Dale turned in a strong performance for the month with five winners and eight placings generated by a team of just 25 horses.

 Patrick Murphy’s quartet of wins during April has earned him the Prydes Country Trainer’s Award.

It wasn’t so much his six wins for the month but the way he won them, that qualifies Wayne Wilkes for the February award.

Muswellbrook trainer Jan Bowen maintained her consistent strike rate with a quartet of wins for the month just gone.

Ten wins in the space of a month is a remarkable achievement for any country trainer with just 25 horses in work. Dubbo’s Michael Mulholland did exactly that in the month of November.

It’s a good performance by any country trainer to win four races in a month with a team of just over twenty horses in work.

With just eighteen horses in work on her Bendemeer property, Jane Clement’s achievement to win nine races for the month was award winning stuff.

Six winners in a month is a great achievement for any country stable. Dwayne Schmidt’s June sextet came about largely through his utter frustration with the endless wet weather in northern NSW.

In a month marred by an unusually high number of “washouts” Taree trainer Glen Milligan did well to notch four wins from just fifteen starts.

Cindy Monaghan can be justifiably proud of her training statistics for the month just gone. The Dubbo trainer had only five horses in the stable during April and all earned their keep.

March turned out to be a bittersweet month for Dubbo trainer Dar Lunn. His five wins for the month included the all important Country Championship Qualifier at Coonamble with Elson Boy.

Astute Wagga trainer Gary Colvin maintained his trademark strike rate throughout February posting four winners for the month. Dupride Star and Danny Beasley got the stable away to a good start with an Albury win on February 1st.

Trainers of horses who qualify early for the $1 million Country Championship Final are obviously relieved to get the hard part out of the way, but then they have to deal with a different kind of problem.

Alison Smith rarely has more than a dozen horses in work at her Orange (NSW) base and gives each of them her utmost attention.

 Respected Ballina trainer Stephen Lee landed two winning doubles in the final month of 2023. The first came at Ballina on December 4th when Cosmic Fortune (Adin Thompson) and Inlanda (Robbie Dolan) were successful.

Colt Prosser had just finished shoeing his second horse of the day, when we called to tell him of his October award.

The cut off point in determining the award is historically the last day of each month, but in David Blundell’s case we’re going to stretch it out by twenty four hours.

Sally Taylor has only twelve horses in work at Coffs Harbour, but managed to win four races during the month of August. Egotistic (Jon Grisedale) got the ball rolling on August 15th with a Ballina maiden win.

Todd Howlett ’s ability to find the right races for his horses paid off handsomely in the month of July. He travelled far and wide to land seven winners for the month beginning with the promising Tanglewood at Grafton on July 9th with Aaron Bullock in the saddle.