Ben Yole has had an amazing season and all the hard work that he and his team have put in makes him a worthy recipient of Tasmania’s premier harness racing trainer for season 2015-16.
But what makes it such a standout season for the former Victorian who relocated to Tasmania 11 years ago, is the statistics that surround his feat of preparing over 100 winners.
While Yole has trained 105 winners, with two meetings remaining he could struggle to eclipse the record of 118 set by Neville Webberley in the 1990-91 season.
But one record that he will set and that might only ever be broken by himself is the number of starters he has produced this season.
Yole has so far taken 1006 horses to the races and compared to the only other three trainers to snare 100 plus winners he is in a league if his own.
Barrie Rattray has trained 100 or more winners four times and the most horses he has taken to the races was in the 1993-94 season when he started 495 to win the title with 101 winners. Webberley started 515 of his team in the 1990-91 season when he captured the record of 118 winners.
Yole has accepted with 20 of his team for this Sunday night’s meeting in Hobart to take his season tally of starters to 1026 and no doubt at the final meeting of the season in Launceston on
Sunday week he will have at least a dozen go around which will give him more than double the number of starters Webberley had in his busiest season.
To keep Yole’s training effort in perspective, he has bagged his winners from considerably less meetings than Webberley was afforded in 1990-91. Webberley prepared 118 winners from 115 meetings for a strike rate of 1.03 while Yole will have amassed his total from only 86 meetings for a strike rate of 1.21.
The comparisons are:
Winners
Season |
Trainer |
Winners |
Meetings |
Strike Rate |
1989/90 |
Wayne Rattray |
113 |
110 |
1.03 |
1990/91 |
Neville Webberley |
118 |
115 |
1.03 |
1993/94 |
Barrie Rattray |
101 |
112 |
0.90 |
1994/95 |
Barrie Rattray |
101 |
112 |
0.90 |
1995/96 |
Barrie Rattray |
107 |
103 |
1.04 |
1996/97 |
Barrie Rattray |
111 |
107 |
1.04 |
2015/16 |
Ben Yole |
105 |
86 |
1.21 |
Starters
Season |
Trainer |
Starters |
1990/91 |
Neville Webberley |
515 |
1991/92 |
Wayne Rattray |
498 |
1993/94 |
Barrie Rattray |
495 |
2009/10 |
Phillip Ford |
515 |
2015/16 |
Ben Yole |
1026* |
*Includes Ben Yole acceptors (20) at Hobart on 21 August 2016
Peter Staples