Riccarton-based trainer Andrew Carston currently leads the gavelhouse.com Newcomer Award, having trained 10 winners this season.
The New Zealand Trainers’ Association re-introduced the award late last year to “recognise those who are new to the training ranks and have taken the plunge to train professionally.”
Trainers who have held a licence for 5 years or less are eligible for the award which is based on the number of individual winners trained.
Carston, who is in his fourth season, trained a double at Riccarton on Saturday moving him six individual winners clear of Byerley Park-based Steven Cole.
Overall Carston is in seventeenth position on the New Zealand Trainer’s Premiership with 14 wins, and he is currently the fourth most winningest trainer in the South Island.